Capoeira

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Last weekend's Earth day festival had something I'd never seen before. There was a group performing capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art and dance discipline. It looks like a combination of taekwando , modern dance and breakdancing. The participants whirl with sweeping kicks and thrusts, bouncing, swirling, doing headstands; lashing out at one another but never making contact. The group and other onlookers form a ring; two people at a time enter to perform the ritual. I cannot call it a contest because there seemed to be no sense of victory or loss. Some of the members play an instrument that looks like a a hunting bow, rubbing its string with a stick. A gourd is attached, probably for resonance. The whole group sings a hypnotic call-and-response chant. It was a fascinating sight.