Posted by Rachel
Today we’re going to look at one of Rio de Janeiro’s most successful non-profit organizations.
Afro Reggae started as a newspaper in the Vigario Geral favela in Rio, discussing Afro-Brazilian culture and music, like reggae and hip hop. The movement itself was inspired by a police massacre in the favela that left a group of innocent civilians dead. In 1993, a community center was created for the community’s children, to provide them with cultural activities and opportunities they wouldn’t otherwise have. The center offered dance classes, drumming instruction, and soccer games. It later expanded to favelas in other parts of the city and now has 65 current projects.
The NGO now offers a wide variety of cultural and educational activities, including theater classes, homework help, and circus classes, besides dance, percussion, and performing opportunities. It also has partnerships with other non-profits and private companies to help urbanize favelas and offer residents new opportunities. The organization seeks to use social projects and development to reduce violence and poverty.
Afro Reggae is also a popular bloco (street band) that attracts thousands of people to a local parade during Carnival, and also performs at venues in Brazil and internationally throughout the year.
The NGO was featured in a full-length documentary called “Favela Rising.” Check out the trailer below and look for the movie on DVD.
To visit Afro Reggae’s official website, click here.
Posted by Rachel
Today on the video learning series, we’re going to take a look at a type of Brazilian dance/martial art form called capoeira, which originated during the colonial period from the African slaves. This documentary originally aired on ESPN Brasil and discusses the development of the dance form, the music and instruments used to accompany the dance, and its modern popularity. Check it out and practice your listening skills! It’s split up into seven parts, so be sure to click the links below to see the rest.
Part III
Part IV
Part V
Part VI
Part VII
Posted by admin
Though capoeira, a Brazilian dance form that mixes martial arts and movement, is most prominent in Salvador, Bahia, it is now practiced all over Brazil. In fact, this August, Brazil’s big international capoeira festival is being held in a less likely place: Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais. From the 4th to the 10th, the city will host capoeira workshops, performances, competitions, conferences, and classes. Over 2,000 Brazilians will participate, as well as 500 foreigners from the U.S., Europe, and Japan.
For more information, see the official site and watch the Globo news coverage.
Posted by admin
Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian dance based on martial arts, has become famous world-wide in recent years, in part due to the athletic workout it provides, in part due to the beauty of the dance, and in part due to its cultural implications.
Capoeira developed at the beginning in the 16th century, when African slaves were brought to work in Brazil. The general thinking is that it was born in Brazil as a form of rebellion against slave owners and as a new cultural practice of African slaves. But another theory, which is featured in this month’s issue of Revista de Historia da Biblioteca Nacional (History Magazine of the National Museum), contends that capoeira is merely an evolution of an Angolan martial art dance.
The Angolan dance form is known as n’golo, which means zebra in the indigenous language, since some of the movements imitate those of zebra. It was a male dance performed at a marriage ceremony in the south of Angola. It forms part of a puberty ritual in which the winning dancer manages to stay within a demarcated circle and hit his opponent’s face with his foot. The winner chose his bride without paying a dowry.
Angolan scholar Albano Neves e Sousa originally proposed this theory in the 1960s, recognizing the similarities in the dance movements. He proposed that capoeira was an evolution of this dance, claiming that n’golo had been “batizado” (baptized) as capoeira.
"
