was created about 500 years ago by African slaves taken to Brazil to work. Some believe that Capoeira was created as a way to unite the slaves and to give them a disguised way to train self defense.  For many years, Capoeira was illegal to practice.  Many slaves used their Capoeira to escape to the forests and set up communities of escaped slaves called Quilombos.  

kept the traditional form of Capoeira alive in the 1930's.  This form is called Capoeira Angola.  It is played generally slower and lower to the ground.  Capoeira Angola is a very deceptive game wherein cunning and sneakiness is highly regarded.  Generally, our group does not train Capoeira Angola, but as you train you will learn the foundations of this game.  

Manoel dos Reis Machado modified Capoeira in the 1930's to make it more organized and self defense oriented.  He opened the first Capoeira Academy in 1932, even though Capoeira was still illegal to practice until 1936.  Through his work, Capoeira was recognized by the President of Brazil at the time and was made legal to practice.  Mestre Bimba had a reputation as a fighter and was challenged many times in his life, but never lost a fight.  He was assaulted by several policemen one night and not only beat them up, but returned their nightsticks to the police station the next day.