History UsefulNotes / Capoeira

* Xever/Fishface from ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' is from Brazil and uses capoeira in conjunction with a pair of butterfly knives, making him more than a match for the turtles on more than one occasion. After his mutation, he gains a pair of robotic legs, making his capoeira even more difficult to deal with.

** A bohemian capoeirista named [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madame_Sat%C3%A3 Madame Satã]] was said in police reports to have once battled ''twenty-four'' policemen in a street brawl, hospitalizing seven of them and forcing the rest to fly away.

* Flashkick enemies in {{VideoGame/Sifu}} have many attacks that seem heavily inspired by capoeira; the protagonist's attack after getting knocked down, and the unlockable Ground Counter skill, bear more than a passing resemblance to some techniques as well.

* Flashkick enemies in {{VideoGame/Sifu}} have many attacks that seem heavily inspired by capoeira; the protagonist's attack after getting knocked down, and the unlockable Ground Counter skill, bear more than a passing resemblance to some techniques as well

-->--'''Jairo''', ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers''

** Naturally, Eddy Gordo in the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' movie. Christie Montero's style is listed as UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts, but she still uses some capoeira moves.

* Eddy Gordo and Christie Monteiro of the ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' series, possibly the best reproduced example in non-Brazilian media.

* Creator/LateefCrowder: Though you might have not heard talk of him, he's capoeira's main stunt guy in Hollywood. He also played Eddy Gordo in the ''Film/{{Tekken}}'' film.

* In ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'', Elena uses capoeira as her style, being an ExtremityExtremist who did kicks even when the punch buttons were pressed. Also, Blanka occasionally had capoeira listed as his fighting style, but it was in name only. Elena's style, save for the flashier specials, is also quite accurate, mainly because producer Yoshiki Okamoto had gone to Brazil in 1996 to research the art for ''VideoGame/StreetFighterIII'', leading to plenty of hype amongst the local gaming media, since apparently she was going to be Brazilian early into the game's development.

* The [[FantasticFightingStyle Jaffa martial art mastaba]] in ''Series/StargateSG1'' is capoeira (in fact, the show used actual practitioners as extras and doubles for "The Warrior").

!!Examples

-->'''JJ:''' Capoeira. ''(puzzled look from Shaft II)'' It's ahh...Brazilian dance fighting. My mom had me take lessons when I was a kid so... [[DrunkenMaster when I get drunk it just comes out]].

-->'''JJ:''' Capoeira. ''(puzzled look from Shaft II)'' It's ahh...Brazilian dance fighting. My mom had me take lessons when I was a kid so... when I get drunk it just comes out.

** Mestre Bimba has another crazy story about his badassery. Supposedly, he was once ambushed in the streets by six policemen armed with sabers and led by a crooked policeman (who lost a bet because Mestre Bimba beat the guy he betted on), who also carried a gun. Bimba then disarmed and knocked all them out, dumped the gunman into a nearby garbage container, and finally left in the streetcar, all without losing his [[NiceHat straw hat]].

* KnifeNut: In old times, capoeiristas used to carry knives and straight razors, as stabbings in street rodas were a real possibility. Mestre Pastinha was said to never forget his knife when going to play.

* An episode of ''Series/KungFu'' features a capoeirista called Isaac Montola.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art which combines fighting with performance art. It's a very recognizable style with its emphasis on acrobatics, attacks from the ground, feints, and spinning kicks, frequently all at the same time. Dating back at least to the 18th century, the art spread first throughout Brazil, from poor blacks to wealthier classes, and throughout the world in the later part of the 20th century.

Capoeira is substantially different in execution to most other martial arts, to the point some believe it would be fitter to call it an "[[ShapedLikeItself art]]" without any adjective. Its way to spar is the ''roda'', a circle formed by practitioners singing and playing music where the goal is not destroying the opponent, but rather having the most awesome exhibition of skill possible at the music's beat. There is certainly an element of making the opponent look worse than you, which can involve striking, tripping and countering, but this is generally done in a hit-and-run way rather than an all out exchange; there is no true way to "win" or "lose", and the interaction is more akin to a dialogue than a fight. Only some groups endorse beating the crap out of each other, and even they stress the importance of the dancing and acrobatic aspects, which are as important as capoeira as the martial side.

Its origins are hazy and debated, but it emerged as a fighting style among the slaves of UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. The elements of dance existed partly so that the slaves could mask it as a cultural activity unrelated to fighting, while the kicks and legsweeps would have been emphasized so slaves could fight with their hands chained. It evolved to be a favored fighting style among criminals, and at various times in Brazilian history, it has been declared illegal to practice. As a result, much of the known history is based on stories and legends.

* '''Capoeira Regional''': a school founded in 1932 by Mestre Bimba, a Bahiano who sought to make capoeira a recognized martial art without forgetting about its ritual and music aspects. His style is highly dynamic and vigorous, incorporating acrobatics, risky sequences, and some moves from other martial arts. This is the most popular and internationalized form of capoeira by a wide margin, as well as the one usually featured in films, series and videogames, being combative and exotic at the same time. It was also the school that introduced the art's signature white pants and rope belt system, as well as possibly the main influence in the de-criminalization of capoeira.

* '''Capoeira Carioca''': the "other" school, an obscure one that actually predated the previous, established by Mestre Sinhozinho in 1930. Sinhozinho, a wrestler and capoerista based in Rio de Janeiro, sought to maximize the art's martial effectiveness to the highest degree, and therefore he dropped all the music and dance and fully integrated boxing and grappling, which made his style more of a UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts form than a true capoeira style. It was a very personal school, though, and it disappeared when Sinhozinho died, with his main apprentices going to become judokas and athletes.

* ArsenalAttire: Back in the old times, some capoeiristas were smart enough to conceal knives in their hats and play while wearing them, as random stabbings in street rodas weren't unheard. More interestingly, the ''berimbau'' instrument could be used to conceal knives inside and even to [[InstrumentOfMurder turn into a weapon by attaching a blade to its tip]]; there were also {{SwordCane}}s called ''tira-teima''; and Mestre Bimba himself was said to own an [[ParasolOfPain umbrella equipped with hidden blades]].

* BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: Hélio Vigio, an apprentice of the submission-specialized Gracie Jiu Jitsu academy, was submitted by the capoerista Adão in a vale tudo match. As dictated by the opportunistic nature of capoeira, Adão saw his chance in a takedown by Vigio and caught him in a guillotine choke, which was strong enough to make the guy tap out.

* DangerousForbiddenTechnique: An obscure capoeira style was taught by Mestre Sinhozinho in the 1920s, and it was called Capoeira Carioca. It worked without music and involved a heavy emphasis in street fighting, with weapons training and krav maga-like hand techniques. Traditional capoeristas deemed it as brutal and immoral, and as unfortunately Sinhozinho never created a teaching system, his capoeira was lost when he died. However, Mestre Bimba was smart enough to integrate some of its techniques in his own style after seeing two of his students being schooled by Carioca alumns, so Sinhozinho's style is not completely forgotten.

* EscalatingBrawl: A legendary one happened in 1917 at the Rio de Janeiro location of Curva Grande when a military police squad tried to arrest a full roda of capoeiristas. As soon as the police sergeant drew his gun, he was disarmed by one of the fighters and a monumental brawl broke on the place. [[EveryoneJoinTheParty Both sides received reinforcements]] when the fight attracted more police forces and thugs, and the place soon become a battlefield truly a la ''Film/TheRaidRedemption'', with the additional similarity that some of the policemen [[EverybodyWasKungFuFighting were capoeristas as well]]. At the end, according to sources, the battle (which was called "O Barulho" or "the great brawl") ended with destroyed urban furniture and dozens of dead people.

** During the era of the challenges to capoeristas by the Gracie family, the matches (originally of the vale tudo kind) were always stipulated with some restrictive rules against the capoeira practitioners: they had to wear a gi top and could only kick, without striking with the arms or any other body part. Still, some of them led the jiu-jitsu fighters to stalemates and draws.

* HeroesFightBarehanded: Subverted. While Mestre Bimba believed a good capoerista did not need weapons, he knew it was useful to know how to use them. He taught the use of all kind of weapons, like machete, long knife, straight razor, scythe, club, stick, ''chanfolo'' (double-edged dagger) and disguised weapons, and also taught how to disarm an opponent.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Back when ''Film/OnlyTheStrong'' came out, a film critic called capoeira "the lambada of martial arts". That critic turned out to be very wrong.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Usually inverted; ''apelidos'' o nicknames given to capoeristas tend to be unimpressing or just plain silly sounding, as they always came from a physical characteristic, an habit or any remarkable element of the person. However, this is not obstacle for the nicknamed to be real badasses. Perhaps the most known example of this inversion was the capoerista Passarito (literally, "little bird"), real name Wilson Oliveira, who had a legendary feud with Carlson Gracie, and who some sources say as well to be a judo, boxing and/or wrestling champion.

* OddFriendship: In the old vale tudo scene, capoeira was commonly associated with Brazilian luta livre, to the point that most of the greatest lutadores (Roberto Leitao, Flavio Molina, Euclides Pereira, Eugenio Tadeu and Marco Ruas, among others) were capoeristas as well. This was mostly due to an EnemyMine situation against the jiu-jitsu boom in Brazil, along with the luta livre's eagerness to assimilate new styles like capoeira and muay thai.
** However, there was a surprising exception in the famous Mestre Neyder, who was close friends with Carlson Gracie of all people. If you know about MMA history, you will know how freaking odd was a friendship between a Gracie and a capoerista at the time.

* OneManArmy: Capoeira was conceived to fight in extreme conditions, as evidenced in its emphasis on moving unceasingly and using wide attacks. There are stories about capoeristas who fought overwhelming numbers of opponents at once, and while many of them are probably exaggerated, some have historical records.

* ScarfOfAsskicking: Street capoeristas used to wear ''esguiãos de seda'' or silk scarves around their necks as a way to add some protection against razor cut attacks to the throat. It became a sign of rank in established schools after the legalization.

* StoneWall: Back when capoeristas fought jiu-jitsu fighters in vale tudo, holding down and stall was their main tactic on the ground, as capoeira did not have groundfighting methods and the jiu-jitsu fighters at the time were not skilled enough in ground and pound to bypass their submission defense. Even the original Gracie brothers, George and Carlos, were often led to draws by those tactics. However, after vale tudo advanced over the time, it was relegated to the past.

* Shows up in ''Manga/AllRounderMeguru'', when a capoerista from Brazil suddenly joins the All Japan Shooto Championship and becomes Maki's first opponent in the tournament.

* ''Film/OnlyTheStrong'', generally the movie most U.S. capoeiristras cite as their introduction to capoeira. The actual performance of capoeira in the film has became pretty questionable, but it is nonetheless considered the gateway to its popular knowledge along with Eddy Gordo.

* An episode of ''Series/KungFu'' features a capoerista called Isaac Montola.

* ''WesternAnimation/ComboNinos'' features capoeiristras as the protagonists.

Capoeira as practiced today stems primarily from two Mestres in the 20th century and their respective schools: Mestre Bimba, founder of the martial, dynamic Capoeira Regional in the 1932, and Mestre Pastinha, founder of the more traditionalist, dance-like Capoeira Angola in 1941, who strove to keep closer to the art's roots. Popular belief has Regional as the first established school, but both of them were predated by an obscure third school founded by Mestre Sinhozinho in 1930, Capoeira Carioca, which was more like a form of UsefulNotes/MixedMartialArts than a true capoeira style and disappeared when its creator died.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art which combines fighting with performance art. It's a very recognizable style with its emphasis on acrobatics, attacks from the ground, feints, and spinning kicks, frequently all at the same time. Its usage dates back at least to the 18th century. Capoeira as practiced today stems primarily from two Mestres in the 20th century and their respective schools: Mestre Bimba, founder of the modernized Capoeira Regional in the 1930s, and Mestre Pastinha, founder of the more traditionalist Capoeira Angola that strove to keep closer to the art's roots.

Its origins are hazy and debated, but it emerged as a fighting style among the slaves of UsefulNotes/{{Brazil}}. The elements of dance existed partly so that the slaves could mask it as a cultural activity unrelated to fighting. It evolved to be a favored fighting style among criminals, and at various times in Brazilian history, it has been declared illegal to practice. As a result, much of the known history is based on stories and legends.

The art spread first throughout Brazil, from poor blacks to wealthier classes, and throughout the world in the later part of the 20th century.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batuque3kl_capoeira.png]]

* Lola, of ''VideoGame/BeatDown'', uses Capoeira moves in her fighting style.

* ''Fanfic/RocketshipVoyager''. [[HalfHumanHybrid Brazilian-Venusian]] B'Elanna Torres is introduced using her Capoeira skills to advantage during a brawl in zero-gravity. She later tells Tom Paris she learned the martial art while studying at the University of San Paulo, and [[CallingTheOldManOut demonstrated it]] to her DisappearedDad when she finally caught up with him.