Capoeira: A Symbol of Resistance

Event Date:
November 17, 2021 – 2:30 PM to 3:45 PM

Location:
Robinson Hall Studio 115

Join the UNC Charlotte Department of Dance for an energetic performance of Capoeira, a Brazilian martial art form, described in the Encyclopedia Britannica, “not as a dance but as a sport in which participants-historically perform aerial somersaults and pass within a hair’s breadth of each others knees, head, or stomach. In current practice, two opponents face each other within the roda – a circle of capoeiristas (practitioners of capoeira) – emulating in a stylized manner the strikes and parries of combat, in time with the rhythms of a small musical ensemble.”

Guest performer, Mestre Zumbi, holding the highest rank, Mestre, in Capoeira with over 25 years of experience is from the International Capoeira School. Mestre Zumbi “began training Capoeira at the age of nine in his native home of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil” and has extensive experience teaching and performing in Brazil and the United States, according to Princeton Capoeira. For this event, Mestre Zumbi will share the martial arts form and history of Capoeira with students, faculty and staff while providing the historical and cultural contextualization of the form and practice coming from the descendants of enslaved Africans in present day Brazil.