Word: capoeira
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...about this point, any non-Brazilian begins to wonder what in the world is going on. The answer: capoeira (pronounced cap-oh-wcry-rah), a combination of folk dancing and self-defense that has become a national craze. Along the beaches, in parks and at festivals all over Brazil, enthusiasts leap, fade, swing and sing in the country's first truly national folk manifestation. Capoeira pervades nearly every aspect of Brazilian life, from pop songs and poetry to sport and even formal receptions for state visitors. It resembles a super-athletic ballet, its deadly blows precisely calculated to miss...
Contagious. Originated about three centuries ago by escaped slaves hiding in the scrublands around the coastal city of Salvador, it was designed as a form of self-defense; the slaves used it with devastating effect against owners and police trying to recapture them. When capoeira was outlawed by alarmed authorities, Brazilians set it to music and turned it into a kind of ritual dance; that way, if they were seen practicing capoeira, they could say that they were merely dancing. It was finally legalized in 1937, and in the past few years has gained broad popularity-as a folk...
...Capoeira reverses usual dancing and fighting patterns; a capoeirista spends much of the time on his hands while his legs slash through the air in roundhouse kicks (pontapes) or straight jabs (pisadas). Tripping is a favorite tactic; so is the flying dropkick (voo de morsego) that norteamericano wrestlers love. Cartwheels are often used. One of the deadliest blows is the cabecada, a flying head butt to the solar plexus that, if properly delivered, can be fatal...
Leader of capoeira's transformation into respectability is Manoel Does Reis Machado, now 71, who is called Mestre (Master) Bimba by his devotees. A renowned Salvador rowdy as a youth, Bimba took up capoeira seriously in his late teens and after several prison terms opened an academy to propagate it. In the mid-'30s, after he whipped three rivals on the same afternoon, his reputation began to spread...
...universities. There are also doctors, engineers and lawyers among his clients and two former state governors among his alumni. The average student attends classes for six to eight months, progressing up the proficiency hierarchy from blue neckerchief on to red, yellow and white. All students are given a capoeira name by the master: Fer-de-Lance and Strong-as-a-Rock are two examples...