83

Resistance From the Inside: An Analysis of the jogo de dentro in

Brazilian Capoeira Angola
Ana Paula Hofling
Introduction
"Eu sou angoleira
angoleira sim eu sou "I
I am a capoeira angola player
a capoeira angola player yes I am

Capoeira is a movement practice from Brazil that evades classification. It is

movement to music, but it is not considered a dance form; it is an interaction
between two people in front of an audience combining both rehearsed and
improvised material, but it is not theater; it is arguably a martial art, but there
is little contact between the players. The players of capoeira or capoeiristas take
turns in the roles of movers, musicians and observers. Capoeiristas call it a
game, or jogo de capoeira, but in this game there are no winners or losers, just
players.

In this paper I will analyze the element of resistance in capoeira angola, a type
of capoeira that sets itself apart by defining itself as a tool of political and
cultural resistance to an oppressive hegemonic structure referred to as "the
system." In order to understand capoeira's defining element of resistance, I
will briefly discuss the history of capoeira in Brazil - its long history of
oppression, the period of illegality and particularly the period when capoeira's
Africanity was consciously stripped away. I will then look at contemporary
capoeira angola as a tradition that affirms and validates Afro-Brazilian
identity. I will examine capoeira angola's internal rules and movement codes
as tools of resistance to an often racist hegemony where Afro-Brazilians are
discriminated against and denied the same socio-economic opportunities
available to Brazilians of European descent.
This paper is based on eight months of research in Brazil/ where I immersed
myself in the study and practice of capoeira angola with Mestre )ogo de
Dentro in the group Semente do fogo de Angola.
Rescuing Capoeira Angola: A Brief History
"Sal do Congo passei por Angola
Cheguei aqui hoje para vadiar angola"
I left the Congo, I stopped in Angola
I arrived here today to be a capoeira angola bum

Capoeira is the result of the African influences brought to Brazil during the
slave trade. Brazil alone imported around 3,646,800 slaves (Curtin 1969: 49)
during its approximate 300 years of participation in the trade, from the midsixteenth to the mid-nineteenth ce!'tury It was not until 1888 that slavery was
officially abolished, when the Lei Aurea was signed by Princess Isabel.'
During the period of slavery, capoeira was repressed and slaves who were
caught practicing it were harshly punished. After abolition, the oppression

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and subjugation of the Afro-Brazilian population continued: capoeira,

practiced mostly by former slaves, was declared illegal in 1890 (Soares 2001:
39-40). The punishment for the practice of capoeira, also called vadiagem'
(vagrancy), ranged from three months of forced labor to 300 lashes,
imprisonment or death (Soares 2001: 112-123). It wasn't until the 1930s that
capoeira became legal (Pires 2004: 41-42). Capoeira was taken out of the streets
and housed in 'respectable' physical culture centers, where capoeira was reshaped to cater to the white elite. During this transformation, its African
elements were purposefully downplayed and stripped away. Capoeim Mestres
(master teachers) began teaching a form of capoeira that was less ambiguous
about its nature - a form that was shaped more like a sport, with
tournaments, uniforms and belt systems - giving in to a Western, if Asian
influenced, classification. This new form, which borrowed elements from
Asian martial arts, physical education and gymnastics went as far as omitting
the word capoeira, calling itself luta regional bahiana, or regional fight from
Bahia (Abib 2004: 117). Capoeira was presented as local, regional and
Brazilian: no mention of Africa. The descendant of this hybrid form has spread
throughout Brazil and the world, and is known today as capoeira regionaL.
Since the early 1980s, young capoeira mestres from the lineage of Mestre
Pastinha and his two legendary living disciples, Mestre joao Grande and
Mestre Joao Pequeno, began a movement to take capoeira angola out of
obscurity (where it had remained during the boom of capoeira regional) and
restore its African origins. This politicized group of capoein.stas, who call
themselves angoleiros, strive today to keep capoeira true to what are
considered its original values and traditions, from the structure of the rodas
(the name of the events where capoeira is played which also refers to its
circular shape), to the movement choices and the closeness of the game. This
genre not only maintains the word capoeira in its name, it also includes the
word angola, a direct geographical reference to Africa.

Angoleiros and angoleiras 5 believe that the origins of capoeira can be traced
back to a dance from the Congo region called the n 'golo, or Zebra Dance.
Carlos Eugenio Liliana Soares describes this dance in A negregada instituit;tio
(1994), basing his description on the widely-disseminated account of this
dance by the Portuguese traveler Albano Neves de Souza, who,
... in the early 1960s, recorded an initiation ceremonial dance in Angola, practiced
among groups of the Mocupe and Mulundo regions, present-day Southern Angola.
Taking place during the mufico celebrations, a puberty rite of the young women of
the group, it is done inside a large circle of people of the tribe, who clap and set the
rhythm. Inside the circle, two young men execute the dance of the zebra, or H"goio,
in which, imitating the movement of these animals, they try to hit the face of their
opponent with their feet (Soares 1994: 24; my translation). 6

The extent to which capoeira angola is directly derived from the n'golo is
open to debate, but it is widely believed in the capoeira angola world that the
n'golo was the seed of the game from angola, which was brought from Africa to
Brazil. This belief is expressed in the name of the capoeira group where I
conducted my recent research: the Grupo Semente do Jogo de Angola (Seed of the
Game from Angola Group), led by Mestre )ago de Dentro.

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Fighting the System: Capoeira Angola's Resistance

"Dd, del, dd no nego
No nego voce nrio dd"

Hit hit hit the black man

The black man you won't hit

The resistance element is, and has been, an intrinsic part of the capoeira
ideology. Resistance is the core element of the widespread myth of the origins
of capoeira as a means to escape slavery in the plantations of colonial Brazil,
and as a form of defending runaway slave communities called quilombos. In
this version of its early history, capoeira provided the resistance that resulted
in physical freedom from the brutal and oppressive system of slavery.
Although this hypothesis is discredited today by leading Brazilian capoeira
scholar Carlos Eugenio Libano Soares, who attributes its birth to an
anonymous article published in 1925 in a magazine called Vida Policial (Soares
2001: 42), it is worthy of mention here because it exemplifies capoeira's
association with resistance to oppression.
The concept of resistance is central to capoeira angola (Abib 2004: 38). On my
capoeira angola practice T-shirt it reads "Angola capoeira mfie - dez anos de
resistincia" (Angola capoeira mother - ten years of resistance). An angoleiro
who I met in Bahia has the phrase "Eu odeio o sistema" (I hate the system)
tattooed on his forearm. Contemporary imagery of capoeira angola includes
references to slavery - such as the ubiquitous broken chain present in many
capoeira T -shirts, posters and brochures - and many songs reference
resistance to slavery in their lyrics. These references make a 500-year-old
struggle contemporary, namely, the Afro-Brazilian struggle against
oppression, injustice and inequality.
Pedro Abib (2004: 117-118), discussing the work of Leticia Reis (2000), points
out that capoeira can be seen as a "metaphor of social struggle," where,
alternating between "active and passive resistance," the capoeiristas negotiate
power. during the game. Angoleiros/as avoid direct contact and confrontation
and prefer setting traps so that one's opponent may find him/herself off
balance or tvvisted into a knot, facing the wrong direction or unable to counterattack. Both players fluidly weave in and out of each other's spaces waiting for
a brief moment of distraction, looking for an opening, trying to take advantage
of each other's weaknesses. Strategy is much more important than strength.
The indirect nature of the confrontation during the capoeira game can be seen
as a physical manifestation of the socio-political resistance of angoleiros/as, who
come in large part from the low~r socio-economic strata of Brazilian society,
often Afro-Brazilians (Afro-descendentes), or non-Afro-Brazilians who sympathize with the Afro-descendente struggle against racism and inequality.
Capoeira regional, with its high kicks, flashy acrobatics and codified takedown techniques is often looked down upon in capoeira angola circles. It is a
form of capoeira that has been tamed, altered and manipulated to fulfill
hegemonic classifications and aesthetic preferences for acrobatic virtuosity, its
uncomfortable (and potentially threatening) element of socio-political
resistance conveniently stripped away.

86
Through its physical manifestation, capoeira angola's resistance is cultural,
racial, political and social. Today's politicized angoleiros/as oppose an unjust
socio-economic system by creating an environment of alternative values values rooted in a tradition that is both old and new, both African and
Brazilian - a tradition that teaches respect, fairness and above all, nonviolence. They strive to create a counter-culture where socio-economic class,
skin color, nationality and gender, which are markers of othemess and sources
of discrimination in the outside world, are not markers at all.
Serious Play and Playful Seriousness: Embracing the Conflict
"0 sim sim sim
0 niio nao niio"
Oh, yes yes yes
Oh no no no

Two angoleiros/as touch hands and smile at each other before entering the roda,
and play against (but simultaneously with) each other surrounded by their
community, fellow angoleiros/as, who sit in a circle defining the small space
where the game takes place. The two players look for each other's openings
and try to take control of that space, sometimes with a head, sometimes with a
leg, and other times with their whole bodies. The angoleiro/a 's support
constantly alternates betvveen the hands and the feet, and sometimes the head
momentarily bears the weight during an au de cabe<;a (a head cartwheel). To an
outsider, these fluid, interweaving bodies might look like two dancers in an
improvisation jam, but the capoeirista knows that each time these open spaces
are filled, the intention goes beyond a spatially complementary gesture. Each
movement is an attack that is never completed - in capoeira angola, blows
are 'shown' rather than fully delivered. Each 'attack' is answered by an
evasive move: the players alternately duck in negativas to avoid leg sweeps (a
rabo de arraia or meia-lua-de-frente) or carefully stop a head butt (cabec;ada) just
before it makes contact. Both players know, however, that this seemingly
harmless game could turn dangerous or even deadly. Although only 'shown,'
every move carries a real violent potential - a potential that is tightly
controlled by the strict rules of non-violence that govern capoeira angola.
The game of capoeira angola embodies Africanity by. literally and
symbolically embracing conflict. Brenda Dixon Gottschild refers to the
Africanist ability of accepting and celebrating conflict and dissonance (rather
than trying to resolve it) as "embracing the conflict" - when "paired
contraries" are allowed to co-exist, such as "awkward and smooth; detached
and threatening; innocent and seductive" (2001: 333).
Capoeira angola is at the same time dangerous and safe, playful and serious,
unpredictable and rule-bound. The element of play is evident in the moments
when a player calls a volta ao mundo (which literally means a turn or stroll
around the world). This is a pre-established convention where the tvvo players
take a break by walking around the roda. On the surface, this is a moment for
the players to catch their breaths before starting over, but, at the slightest sign
of distraction, the volta ao mundo is used as an ambush, an opportunity to
'show' an attack, which is often met with an evasive maneuver and a smile in

87

acceptance of this momentary defeat. The playful element is also seen when,
after being unintentionally touched during the game (but not hurt), a player
pretends to be seriously injured, by limping, gesturing to the other player
asking for mercy or pointing to t.~e invented injury in mock pain. These hvo
examples underscore the latent danger in the game, but they do so in a playful
and friendly way. Danger and safety are allowed to co-exist.
By entering the roda, the angoleiro/a is choosing to engage in a codified and
conirolled form of conflict,. where the inherent danger in the game is mitigated
by rules of conduct that emphasize fairness and non-violence. This danger is
both highlighted and eased by humor, an integral part of the angola game.
Not only do the players embrace the conflict between danger and safety,
seriousness and play, they are also embraced and protected in the roda by the
other angoleiros and angoleiras, a community of camaradas (literally comrades)
who delineate the physical boundaries of the game.

Contained Danger Inside the Game: Jogo de dentro

"fogo de dentro, jogo de fora
valha-me Deus, minha Nossa Senhora"
Inside game, outside game
God and Our Lady protect me

The ability to play with elegance and fluidity, to come dangerously close to the
other player and feign vulnerability only to set a trap for a counter-attack, but
to be skilled enough to stop a blow millimeters before making contact - this
is what makes for good capoeira angola. The capoeira angola game is played
close to the ground, weight shifting smoothly from feet to hands, bringing the
two players together in a tight game within a small circle.
Among the many physical aspects that set capoeira angola apart from other
styles of capoeira is the jogo de dentro, or inside game, the moment when the
game becomes close and tight, when the two players are so close to each other
that or:te player is said to be playing 'inside' the other. Mestre Jogo de Dentro,
who earned his nickname from Mestre Joao Grande because of his close
playing style, defines the fogo de dentro:
It is a game close to the ground, where you have to work with balance,

endurance and at the same time with a lot of attention- the moment when you
are there, 100% there, you cannot loose your concentration. The game is played
very close, you don't give any space to your partner, you know when he is
making a deliberate move and really paying attention. It's a very special moment
for the capoeirista, when he starts discovering himself, his game, and when he
trips his partner so he can test qis partner's knowledge (Mestre Jogo de Dentro
2006: quote from video-recorded interview).

The jogo de dentro is the moment when the players are protected by the close
proximity of each other, a game that can only exist when the two players trust
each other (and themselves) enough to come so close as to become vulnerable.
But this is not blind trust, and the angoleiro/a's vulnerability is carefully
guarded - every opening is a trap and every player must know how to
protect himself or herself by constantly counter-attacking. However, a skillful

88

player knows how to render these attacks and counter-attacks harmless at the
last fraction of a second.
The jogo de dentro is a series of tightly interwoven near misses - a moving
puzzle, where both players try to outsmart each other and test each other's
knowledge. An example of these playful traps is when a rabo de arraia, a leg
sweep which usually forces the other player into a negativa (an evasive move
that takes the player low to the ground), is inunediately followed by another
rabo de arraia in the opposite direction, breaking the turn-taking pattern of
attack and defense. The result is a trapped player, stuck close to the ground
staring at the sole of her /his partner's shoe.
The capoeira angola roda provides its participants with an environment
packed with potential danger, but with a strict code of conduct where the
slightest display of hostility could result in temporary or even permanent
banishment from a group. In the jogo de dentro, danger and safety, trust and
deception, create a tangible tension that is admired and prized in capoeira
angola.
The Beauty Inside the Game: Jogo bonito
"logo de dentro, jogo de fora
jogo bonito e esse jogo de Angola"
Inside game, outside game
a beautiful game is this game from Angola

Capoeira angola opposes the Brazilian hegemony not only by creating its own
subculture of respect, fairness and justice, where the latent violence of the
game is s-trictly controlled, it opposes the system by establishing its own
definition of beauty. In capoeira angola, beauty has nothing to do with skin
color, body shape or muscle definition. During classes and rodas, muscles are
hidden under loose fitting t-shirts and pants, and an untucked shirt is reason
to stop the game until the shirt is tucked again. The muscled shirtless
capoeirista flying through the air belongs to the world of capoeira regional,
not angola.
Mestre )ogo de Dentro explains what constitutes a beautiful game:
A beautiful game is a calm game, a tranquil game, an elegant game, a game
[played] with a smile on your face and at the same time showing your partner ...
at the right moment that you're playing a beautiful game but you are aware of
everything that's happening around you, without the need to massacre your
partner, without pummeling him. You don't hit [the other player] .... This is the
jogo de dentro (Mestre Jogo de Dentro 2006: guote from video-recorded
interview).

Beauty in capoeira angola, often paired with the concepts of elegance and
tranquility, has to do with how much cunning players are able to show in their
game, all the while respecting the rules of non-violence. Physical strength is
less important than the mental prowess of constant! y creating traps for the
other player and stopping a kick or head butt just before it makes contact.
Often the term jogo bonito (beautiful game) is used to describe the jogo de
dentro, and the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

89

The beautiful game embodies both threat and trust- embracing the conflict.
The game is beautiful when the threat of violence can be 'acted out' without
being real. The observers can enjoy the aesthetic experience without fearing
for the safety of their camadaras. In the counter-culture of capoeira angola,
beauty is not an external attribute imposed by the media, but it is reclaimed
and redefined as the ability to engage in an elegant and fair physical dialogue
while smiling.
Conclusion
"Adeus adeus
Boa viagem
Eu vou m'embora

Boa viagem"
Goodbye, goodbye
Have a nice trip
I'm leaving now
have a nice trip

Capoeira angola defies hegemony in many ways, beginning with its

unwillingness to submit to Western classifications of dance, theater, sport or
martial arts. It reclaims the Africanity that was stripped away during the rise
of capoeira regional. Resistance to an oppressive system is central to the
capoeira angola ideology, where references to slavery and Africa serve as a
way to celebrate African heritage in a society where Africanity is often feared
and marginalized.

Angoleiros have created an environment where opposites are allowed to coexist, and conflict is embraced: threat and trust are not mutually exclusive and
closeness can mean both protection and vulnerability in the jogo de dentro. The
goal of the game is not to defeat the other, but to challenge one another
through a series of playful traps. In the capoeira angola aesthetic, beauty is
redefined and measured in terms of fairness and safety, skill and elegance.
Ango~eiros exercise their peaceful resistance inside the roda, in a movement that
continues to sow the seeds of the game from Angola in Brazil and further
abroad.
Endnotes
1

These are excerpts of capoeira songs (in public domain) that I sang when I presented a
shorter version of this paper at the 29 1h Society of Dance History Scholars Conference in Banff,
Canada, in June 2006.
2

I attended classes and participated 'in rodas from August 2005 until April 2006 at the Gmpo

Semente do fogo de Angoln in Barao Geraldo, Brazil. I also attended the Second International
Encounter of Capoeira Angola in Salvador, Bahia.
3

Law 3,353 of May 13, 1888, signed by Imperial Princess Regent Isabel, daughter of Emperor
Dam Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil.
4

The -eire or -eira endings in Portuguese refer to a person who does or makes something. The
-o is the masculine ending and the -a the feminine. Angolcmo/a is a person from the country of
Angola.

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Today, capoeira regional is treated much like a sport in Brazil.

See also Moura (1980) and Almeida (1986) for references to the n'golo and descriptions by
Neves de Souza.

References Cited:
Abib, Pedro Rodolpho Jungers
2004. Capoeira Angoln: Cultura Popular eo fogo dos Saberes na Roda. Doctoral dissertation.
Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil.
de Abreu, Frederico Jose
2005. Capoeiras: Bahia. seculo XIX, val. 1. Salvador: Instituto )air Moura.

Almeida, Bira
1986. Capoeira: A Brazilian Art Form. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
Curtin, Philip
1969. The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Gazeta da Tarde, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 15 May, 1888

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8/28/06.
Gottschild, Brenda Dixon
1996. Digging the Africanist Presence in American Performance: Dance and Other Contexts.
Westport: Greenwood Press.
2001. Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance.
Moving History/Dance Cu.ltures. (Eds. A. Dills and A. Cooper Albright). Middletown:
Wesleyan University Press.
Grupo Semente do Jogo de Angola
<http:/ I www.sementedojogodeangola.org.br>. 05/15/05.
Moura,Jair
1980. Capoeiragem- Arte e Ma/andragem. Salvador: Prefeitura Municipal.
Pires, AntOnio Liberac Cardoso SimOes
2004. A Capoeira na Bahia de Todos Qs Santos: um Estudo Sabre Cu/turn r:
Trabalhadoras (1890-1937). Goiii.nia: Editora Grafset.

Clns~es

Reis, Leticia Vidor de Souza

2000. 0 Mundo de Pernas Para oar: A Capoeira no Brasil. Sao Paulo: Publisher Brasil.
Santos, Jorge Egidio dos (MestreJogo de Dentro)
Interview by author, April 1st 2006. Campinas, Brazil. Video recording.
Santos, Jorge Egidio dos and Daisy Caribe
No date. Caderno de MU.sica de Capoeira Angola. (photocopy) Campinas: Grupo
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Soares, Carlos Eugenio Libano
1994. A Negregada Instituiqiio: Os Capoeiras no Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro: Colec;ao
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2001. A Capoeira Escrava e Outras TradiqOes Rebeldes no Rio de janeiro (1808-1850).
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