This article endeavors to trace back and reconstruct the historical development of capoeira and identify decisive moments, turning points after which the roles of capoeira and its practitioners were changed in popular perception and in actual fact. Our investigation must, at the outset, clarify what is meant by capoeira. In other words, it should convey the content of the practice played today as "the art of capoeira."

Capoeira is engaged in in clubs, "schools," and on the streets, as a sport involving physical training in preparation for participation in a "capoeira circle," or roda. There are no hard and fast rules, yet it does follow a characteristic protocol, with its own music, in which the instrument that sets the tempo and drives the performance inside the circle is the musical bow or berimbau.

The music, of course, clearly shows the ludic value of the sport - perhaps its most enduring feature - but it also brings out a very large dance component, albeit subordinated to the business of eluding and outwitting one's partner/opponent. In this we see the martial component, which entails bodily contact, but not necessarily victor and vanquished. By bringing together these elements of sport, music, dance, martial skills and joyful camaraderie, capoeira comprises one of the most opulent manifestations of Brazil's popular culture.

Source: Texts from Brazil n.14, produced by the Ministry of External Relations of Brazil.