Capoeira Club Performs for Black History Month

By Broadside Correspondent Katie Miller.

With legs swinging over heads, slow motioned headstands and roundhouse kicks, the George Mason University Capoeira Club performance for Black Heritage Month was nothing short of striking. The event was held in the Johnson Center Atrium last Thursday night.

Black Heritage Month liaison for the group, Andrias White, said that the whole experience was very exciting.

According to White, the dance form is very unique and has a lot of different dancing roots, and he “hopes people got that from the event.”

While two performers dance together, the rest of the group remains in a Hada, or circle, clapping and singing to the music. Although the Hada is usually closed to keep energy within the circle, it remained open to keep the audience engaged.

The group encouraged the audience to clap along while the dancers danced.

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian fusion dance that took root from the traditions of imported Angolan slaves into Brazil during the late 1800s. Although the dance has violent periods, it’s evolved into a fun form of exercise and self-defense.

“The goal is to flow with each other,” said Romina Boccia, club president.

She also said that the goal is to never hit shins; injuries usually only occur when dancers have different levels of expertise.

During one of the more intense performances, one member took a swift kick to the shins and immediately exited the floor.

The performers were a combination of the Mason Capoeira Club and the Alexandria-based Studio Ondas, which supervises the Mason Capoeira chapter.

“It was good to see that people who want to do stuff like this get together at Mason to do it,” said Alexandra Savage, a goverment and international politics major and senior.

The event transitioned from elaborate performances to PowerPoint explanations, providing both historic perspective and visual appeal for its audience.

The dance styles ranged from traditional Capoeira Angola, which requires singing a prayer before beginning and is generally slower to the more modern Capoeira Contemporanea, which is the main style the group performs. The latter does not require a prayer and is generally more fast-paced. The group also did a brief Samba, which is a ­­Brazilian dance that does not involve fighting moves.

The last performance of the evening was a dance called Maculele, which recreates the legend of Maculele, an underdog who saved a village with two sticks, but tragically died in the process.

The group changed into grass skirts and applied face paint to embody the ancient characters.

Check out their Facebook group: GMU Capoeira Club. They have free meetings Fridays in the JC Dance Studio from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. as well as Sundays from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.