fears, insecurities, and a lack of coordination or confidence. The fight, which used to occur
on plantations during slave rebellions, nowadays takes place inside the individual
practitioner who’s trying to understand who he or she is, and how to express that
understanding of self with fluidity, control, and balance. Capoeira frequently, and
unfortunately, becomes a fight between fellow capoeiristas, which makes the fight within
that much more difficult to win. (Essien, 2008, p. xiv)
Yes, maybe this explains why so many embrace the study and practice of capoeira well beyond
the borders of its birthplace of Brazil–that it provides for development at a personal level,
development of the self:
to learn capoeira, a student has to face his or her limits–shame, inhibition, fear of injury,
weakness, a tendency to grow tense in a confrontation, reluctance to conform to an Afro-
Brazilian aesthetic in a white-dominated society. But...the chance to transform oneself is
one of the strongest motives for taking up the art. Capoeira holds out the promise of
pleasure, inspires students to face their inhibitions, summons a desire to exceed personal
limits, and offers opportunities for students to shape their own bodies. (Downey, 2005, p.
182)
But I suggest that there is more happening, that it is taking place on many more levels than just
the individual or personal, and that we can illuminate what is happening by applying
understanding of conflict, culture, and communication.
Capoeira has progressively been established outside
Brazil as an art that, in the words of one of my
students, Contramestre Jordan, “when sensitively
taught can become a powerful tool for awakening
individuals to their greatest potentials and can serve
as a vehicle for social reconciliation and a practical
model for meaningful collaboration.” (Almeida,
2005)
Convention