In the Humboldt Park studio of Gingarte Capoeira, instructor Marisa Cordeiro, five foot six and 133 pounds, squares off against a muscular male student who must outweigh her by 60 pounds. As the two rhythmically circle, weave, and feint, another six students stand close by. One man plays a berimbau, a twangy bow-shaped stringed instrument, another pounds on an atabaque, a tall congalike drum, while a woman rattles a pandiero, a Brazilian tambourine. The rest of the class sings along in Portuguese.
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Cordeiro kicks with her left leg, but the student dodges the blow. She rolls into a handstand on the parquet floor. Her right leg flicks out; again her student eludes connection. After a few more minutes of vigorous sparring, the man retires to the sidelines and a woman of medium build replaces him. She and Cordeiro fight, landing several kicks. After about ten minutes they hug, and a man steps in to replace Cordeiro, who joins the music makers in singing and clapping.
After the abolition of slavery in Brazil in the late 19th century, capoeira was associated with banditry and gang violence, and it was outlawed in 1892. But in 1937 Brazilian authorities rehabilitated it as a unique expression of the people’s culture, officially declaring it the national sport.
Cordeiro, who lives in Hyde Park with her husband and two daughters, has attained six of the ten belts awarded by her alma mater in Brazil, and still aims to earn the remaining four. When Brazilian and American masters travel to Chicago to determine if she merits another belt, they’ll evaluate her teaching accomplishments as well as her technique. “You are judged according to your results,” she says. “That’s going to count a lot.”
