Translated into English by Shayna McHugh. Source: Praticando Capoeira

When I was a boy, I used to go to the street festivals and watch the angoleiros doing their maneuvers so close to the ground. Their bodies interlacing, legs seeking the adversary’s vulnerable points, many rolês, aús, quedas de rins, negativas – all the movements characteristic of capoeira. These players had a constant and intimate affinity with the ground. 

As an adult, entering Mestre Bimba's academy for the first time and watching my first capoeira class, I discovered the style called Capoeira Regional: the faster, more objective blows, quicker and wider movements targeting the adversary, and Mestre Bimba's fantastic teaching method.

While learning with the Mestre, I came to understand some apparent differences between the two styles. To the uninformed, it can seem that capoeira Regional does not play on the floor, or only uses the floor to stay upright. THIS IS A TOTAL MISCONCEPTION. The capoeira Regional taught by Mestre Bimba had and still has a close relationship and a perfect partnership with the ground. 

Down, down, we used to hear the Mestre tell the newest students time after time. Cocorinhas, guardas-baixas, negativas, quedas de rins, rasteiras, aús, rolês, bandas de costas, bandas traçadas, vingativas, and all the tripping blows – these are movements that need the ground, not just as a base of support, but also as a necessity in defending oneself and throwing the adversary to the floor.

Bimba used to tell us, "Always keep one of your bases on the floor," and his favorite blow was the galopante, exactly because this blow maintains both feet on the ground, as his son Mestre Nenel recalls. 

One of the goals of the capoeira game is to knock your opponent to the ground, while not be knocked to the ground yourself. Thus, it is essential that the capoeira practitioner know how to descend to the ground softly, flexibly, cleverly… in order to get out of a tight situation or even to embellish the game, to trick the opponent, or to give more beauty to the movements.

I still remember Cesar Itapoan doing an armada, descending in a negativa, doing a rolê, rising in a quick aú and giving another blow, leaving his opponent completely disoriented, without knowing which way was up, or from which direction Itapoan would appear and attack. I also remember Cabeludo and Camisa Roxa looking like slithering cobras, slyly and rapidly moving on the ground to entrap their adversaries, appearing suddenly in a terrible vingativa or a beautiful banda de costas. Their opponents took some hard falls. What is the defense for such an attack? The ground. We would never wait to be fully caught by the blow; instead, when we perceived our partner's intention we would quickly escape in a quick rolê, fleeing and counter-attacking. 

This was the way the capoeira rodas progressed. In a 2-3 minute game, the capoeiristas would play on the ground about 50% of the time. The ground was our friend; it was so nice to feel its security, its "soft" solidness, when we sought it. On the other hand, we knew that if we didn’t seek it, we would be slammed against it with such violence that the game would end right there for us.

The ground is the capoeirista's best friend in the game. Today, many players utilize the ground only as a launch pad for flips. They only step on the ground, they don't know it like a friend, they don’t know its secrets, its usefulness for a beautiful and objective practice of capoeira.