The pensive thrum of a stringed bow resonates in the air as a circle of people dressed in stark white begin clapping and singing in Portuguese. Two capoeiristas sit at the foot of the bow, and the musician suddenly gives a call. The game begins. The two maneuver around each other in beautiful circles and kicks, carefully reading and observing one another’s energy. 

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that combines rhythmic percussion and music with fighting techniques primarily consisting of kicks and is escape-heavy. The martial artists stand in a circle, called the roda, together with musicians at the front, and the “fight” — called “playing the game” — begins when two capoeiristas enter the circle to spar. The roda is a conversation between the two fighters — their unique fighting styles coming up against each other. 

“The roda is where we use everything we know. The roda is also just a representation of life as well, the way how people move through life differently, “ said Andre Walker, a founding member of CapoeiraSC and USC alum with a degree in business administration. 

Sports and music create the space for people to speculate various theories and metaphors on life and people. How we move and use our bodies fashions arguments on who we are, what we like and why it’s so cool that such anatomical details matter.

“Some people might be more inclined with music, so they might look more like a dance. Some people are more martial with their movements,” Walker said. “Capoeira also offers that freedom of one’s expression. We all have our own little styles and quirks. While we’re practicing the same art form, we’re able to express it in our individuality.”

The martial art was created in Brazil by enslaved Africans in defiance of their Portuguese captors. Slaves who ran from their masters grew into communities called quilombos, which grew the style of capoeira into the powerful martial art it is today. Capoeira’s potent and uniquely passionate style comes from the struggles of those who built it. 

“It’s a martial art that’s rooted in deception,” Walker said. “There’s this concept called malandragem — basically it’s malice disguised as mercy and mercy disfigured as malice.”

Alex Rand — Contra Mestre Holofote — is CapoeiraSC’s coach. Rand, who has been a capoeirista for 27 years, explains capoeira using the concept jogo bonito (beautiful game) as part of the relationship between capoeira and capoeiristas. Sometimes, capoeira is a beautiful game, and at other times, it’s combative. 

“Capoeira is telling you to look at my left hand while my right hand takes your wallet. Capoeira is when the person tells you to look at their left hand, you look at their right hand,” Rand said.

Capoeira can be mistaken for a dance because of its inclusion of musical instruments such as the berimbau, pandeiro, atabaque and agogô, all of which Rand teaches to his students during training sessions. However, distinguishing capoeira as a martial art is a vital distinction to make in the culture in which it thrives. 

“What’s interesting [to me as a dancer is] learning a martial art that is so close to dance, but it’s not dance. You can see other cultures pulling influences, like how breakers pull from capoeira,” said Cardin Chung, co-founder of CapoeiraSC and a junior majoring in dance and current president. “If you learn capoeira, it’s a part of your body. I’ve noticed that over the years I’ve gotten really comfortable with being on the floor.”

CapoeiraSC is about giving knowledge and cultural awareness of capoeira a wider range of accessibility. After slavery was abolished in Brazil, capoeira was banned for nearly 50 years until the capoeirista legend Mestre Bimba standardized and popularized it. Members of CapoeiraSC are trained holistically in the martial arts — learning the music and the movement as well as the language, culture and history.

“What I love about our school of thought is not only do you learn the movements, you learn how to play the music, how to sing the songs, how to speak Portuguese,” said Walker. “On top of that, you’re also learning the history and the context and what these movements mean, and what we are doing while we are practicing. It’s not just a physical activity, but it’s also social learning, cultural enrichment.”

Along with the instruments, Rand also prioritizes teaching his students at CapoeiraSC the culture as a way to emphasize its importance in Afro-Brazilian life as the national game of Brazil.

“It’s difficult sometimes for foreigners to understand the nuances of capoeira. Many phenomena in the [African Diaspora] have a lot of rules that are unspoken rules,” Rand said. “They are rules that you absorb just by being part of the culture and slowly, over time, you learn them. For my students, it’s important to help them manage that difference and help them manage those blind spots.”

With a coach with knowledge and experience like Rand and passionate club members, CapoeiraSC provides a strong community to learn and be immersed in capoeira. 

“This is my family. It’s my community,” Walker said. “Something that I think is wonderful about it is that there wasn’t any question or any doubt that I was coming back because I was just here. I think [Rand] has done a great job of just fostering that sense of community.”

There aren’t swarms of capoeiristas stampeding through the doors, but there doesn’t need to be. Capoeira education is difficult to find, and quality education is even harder. However, on this campus of higher education lies a safe space for anyone to learn and a strong home for anyone willing to practice. 

“For capoeira, for a martial art that is so much about looking at the person in front of you and keeping your eyes on them, you see so much,” Chung said. “Through that, that’s what people know, and I think that’s what lends us to being so observant of each other and able to keep each other in check when things get rough … No one’s out of place.”