In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, please join the Yale Latino Networking Group, Yale African American Affinity Group, and Brazilian Fitness Center for a virtual demonstration of capoeira, maculele, and samba. The purpose of this event is to impart key facts about Afro-Brazilian culture, demonstrate Afro-Brazilian culture using dance, inspire attendees to relate to Afro-Brazilian culture through participation in its music and dance, and share aspects of Latin American culture with which many are unfamiliar.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art created by Brazilian slaves to aid them in revolting against their masters. Capoeira was secretly practiced as a method to fight against the Portuguese army. It was paired with music so that officials would only consider Capoeira a dance. It was later picked up and used by street gangs known as Malandros after slavery was abolished. After being outlawed, Capoeira was finally legalized in the early 1940’s.

Maculele is a folkloric dance included in the teachings of many Capoeira academies. Maculele is a traditional indigenous folk dance that imitates fighting and is performed with wooden sticks. The rhythm is controlled by the atabaque, and on every 4th beat of the atabaque the dancers have to hit sticks with their opponent.

Samba is a lively dance of Afro-Brazilian origin in 2/4 (2 by 4) time danced to samba music whose origins include the Maxixe. Samba was created by African people in Brazil from the music and dance culture they brought from Africa. Samba music is very similar to and has been influenced by many music genres, as well as many other Latin American music genres and dances. The term “samba” originally referred to any of several Latin duet dances with origins from the Congo and Angola. Today, Samba is the most prevalent dance form in Brazil, and reaches the height of its importance during the festival of Carnaval.