Lifestyle & Culture

After 500 Years, Martial Art Created By Slaves Still Survives

Returning to capoeira, the martial art she practiced as a teen-ager, was Marie Dasilveira’s way of getting closer to Brazil, which is her home country and the place where capoeira was born.

Her search was strategic, said Dasilveira, 26, who signed up earlier this year for classes at Capoeira Brasil in Manhattan’s West Village, mostly because its teacher and leader, a fellow Brazilian, is on an international list of who’s who in capoeira.

“She’s very famous,” Dasilveira said of Katia Colibri, 36. “She’s great at improvising. And that’s how people know you, by the level of your game.”

Fame, however, was never her objective, said Colibri, whose main, paying job is cleaning houses in New York City.

“Capoeira is a philosophy of life,” capoeirista Colibri said, as Dasilveira translated her teacher’s Portuguese into English. “And when you give into it, you realize your entire life revolves around it.”

Capoiera is what slaves, without guns, knives and other weapons, created as “a rebellion … They were training to fight but the people who were watching couldn’t tell what they were doing,” Colibri said.

They wanted their bodies to be their weapons in a war for freedom that never happened in Brazil. That South American country had more slaves—including some of Colibri’s forbears—than any other slave-holding nation. Slavery was outlawed in Brazil in 1888.

That is some of the history shared through Capoeira Brasil, which puts its skill on display in places such as Washington Square Park on weekends when the weather allows. Each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, the group holds classes in a rented West Village studio.

Najemba, who declined repeated requests for her last name, is one student. A black woman, she is intrigued by the black roots of capoeira but she also have been practicing for seven years for other reasons. “The physical challenge—I always did sports—and being able to be involved in martial arts that incorporates music is a big factor,” said Najembe, adding that she is an administrator for a non-profit organization.

She continued: “Even though, culturally, capoeira is a martial art invented by slaves, here in New York you will notice that most practitioners are not black. Some of that has to do with access. This is not cheap. And some of it has to do with exposure … and some people feeling that they don’t have the physical capacity to do this.”

Capoeira is strenuous. It makes you sweat.

“It’s good exercise and a small community with so much to offer,” said Beci Conant, 28, a bartender who has been practicing capoeira for more than two years.

Capoerista Colibri, whose capoeira name is Lua, which means moon in Portuguese, started studying the martial art when she was 14. Now a capoeira brown belt—the second highest of 11 belts designating a person’s skill level—she did not become a well-known teacher by accident. “You’re training, practicing and, automatically, for this to become your profession, you teach … You learn the language and the culture. You become well-rounded in capoeira.”

On Twitter @ShaquilaGriszell.