The Kick That Wasn't in Capoeira Angola in 1964

WHY THIS ARTICLE

The angola repertoire is assumed to be fixed and ancient. The thesis shows, from Pastinha's own 1964 manual, that certain now-standard kicks were absent — the repertoire drifted through inter-academy exchange.

The 1964 inventory

A kick now demonstrated as part of angola did not originally exist in it. In Pastinha's 1964 technical manual, only the rabo-de-arraia and the meia-lua-de-frente are presented, beside two others — the chapa-de-frente (none other than the bênção) and the chapa-de-costa, a kick executed in profile or from the back, of the horse-kick type.

A repertoire that drifted

Progressively, in the 1960s–70s, the proximity and technical exchanges between the players of the different academies allowed the diffusion of movements from one school to another. The 'traditional' angola repertoire was not sealed: it grew and changed through contact, well after 1964.

Why it matters

Even the repertoire of the 'purest' capoeira has a datable history. What angola contains today was not all there in 1964 — the canon drifted, like everything else.

SOURCES

La capoeira et les arts de combat noirs : histoire effacée, techniques invisibles (1905–1984), thèse de doctorat, Université des Antilles, 2020 (Part III: Pastinha's 1964 manual and the drift of the angola repertoire; Mestre Bola Sete)

IN THE CORPUS

→ Pastinha Insisted His Game Was Not a Dance

→ The Kick That Cyriaco Made Famous

HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE

MALO, Olivier. The Kick That Wasn't in Capoeira Angola in 1964. In: Black Combat Arts Institute — Articles [online]. No. 116. 2026 [accessed date]. Available from: https://www.blackcombatarts.com/articles/the-kick-that-wasn-t-in-capoeira-angola-in-1964. Adapted from the author's doctoral thesis, Université des Antilles, 2020.