Читать книгу Introducing Anthropology - Laura Pountney - Страница 128

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art that has taken the world by storm. It is a beautiful, mysterious, physical and spiritual practice that combines dance, combat, theatre and music. It is the only international martial art with an African heritage. The film Body Games follows master Cobra Mansa and his friends in the search for the African roots of the Brazilian martial art Capoeira. The search starts in Rio where, as a 12-year-old street child, Cobra found survival and self-esteem playing Capoeira. Through Capoeira he grew into Brazil’s black movement and discovered his identity as an Afro-Brazilian. A powerful myth links Capoeira to a legendary Angolan game called Engolo – the Zebra dance. The film documents, for the first time, Engolo as well as other combat games, dances and music from the Nyaneka-Humbi people in southern Angola. The exchange between Capoeira and Engolo in Angolan villages and the insights from the streets of Rio and Bahia illuminate the affinities and differences between combat games and musical bows played on both sides of the Atlantic. The journey explores deeper connections between slavery, identity and society.