Capoeira regional
Style of capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art
- Type
- capoeira, type of dance, cultural heritage
Capoeira Regional is a tradition of capoeira created in the 1930s by Mestre Bimba's reform of earlier capoeira. Capoeira regional presents itself as an Afro-Brazilian practice and as a legitimate and effective martial art. This tradition of capoeira was the first to be validated by the Brazilian state and advocated as a national sport for all Brazilians. It contrasts with the approach of capoeira Angola, which was founded a decade later and aims to maintain a more traditional practice. Capoeira regional discards some of the aspects of traditional capoeira that are impractical in a real fight. Training focuses mainly on attack, dodging and counter-attack, giving high importance to precision and discipline. Mestre Bimba also added moves from batuque, an old street fight game played by his father. He also may have incorporated and responded to moves from jujutsu and possibly other martial arts. Mestre Bimba extended the repertoire of capoeira, notably adding the martelo (a type of roundhouse kick) and a number of hand strikes. He established a formal training sequence.
External links
Facts from Wikidata Q722346 (CC0); quoted introduction from English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Data retrieved 2026-10-22.
Data: Wikidata (CC0 1.0); Wikipedia (English) (CC BY-SA 4.0). Retrieved 2026-10-22.