Browse Items (357 total)
- Collection: Documenting Living Culture
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Maculélé - Agogô
Youth student of Professora Amazonas playing the agogô for students practicing maculélé.
Dancing Maculélé
Students practice maculélé, an Afro-Brazilian dance form closely related to capoeira in Professora Amazonas’ children’s capoeira class.
Maculélé Dance
Like the capoeira roda, maculélé is played in a circle that includes the dancers/players and the batería or drummers.
Machetes
Student dancing with plastic machetes, practicing the Afro-Brazilian dance/combat form of maculélé
Practicing Maculélé with Machetes
When training, students playing maculélé break from the circle to practice their dance/combat in pairs.
Maculélé
Students in Professora Amazonas’ children’s class dancing maculélé, an Afro-Brazilian dance form closely related to capoeira.
Dancing Maculélé
Students dance maculélé in a circle, using their sticks to keep rhythm along with the drums.
Teaching Capoeira
Professora Amazonas instructs the students in her children’s capoeira class before beginning training.
Training Capoeira with Cavalo
Cavalo, a student of Professora Amazonas, member of Grupo Liberdade de Capoeira and a Capoeira daddy, assists in the children’s class, helping to train youth ages 3-12, including his two children.
Practicing Kicks
Capoeira is a martial art that is disguised as a dance form. Many of the combat movements used are kicks, which students in Professora Amazonas’ academy practice during classes.
Alegría
Many aspects of capoeira, even combat training, bring joy and happiness to the students.
Professora Amazonas
Professora Amazonas working with a group of students in her children’s class.
Group Instruction
Professora Amazonas instructing students in her children’s class during a training session.
Capoeira Training - Family Time
Students in Grupo Liberdade de Capoeira training during Professora Amazonas’ children’s class. The students pictured here are siblings. Training as a family is encouraged in Grupo Liberdade de Capoeira.
Waiting for a Kick
Student in Professora Amazonas’ children’s class waiting for a kick during a training session.
Berimbau
In Professora Amazonas classes, all students, including the children, study and learn the instruments of capoeira, from the drums to the berimbau, and play during the roda.
Playing Capoeira
Students “play” capoeira in the roda, applying the skills and sequences they learned during their classes and training sessions. Every class ends in a Roda where all participating students have the chance to play in the roda and the batería.
In the Roda
The end of each class in Professora Amazonas’ capoeira academy features a roda, where students play capoeira to practice the sequences and skills they learned throughout the class and trainings sessions.
Bridges in the Roda
Students in Grupo Liberdade de Capoeira train and play a combination of dance, combat and acrobatics, and utilize all three when playing in the Roda.
Oral History with José Gabriel Muñoz - Cuatrista
On October 20, 2019, Raíces Cultural Center had the honor of conducting an oral history interview with cuatrista José Gabriel Muñoz. Download a PDF of the full oral history interview transcript here: José Gabriel Muñoz Interview Transcript
Early Inspirations
Childhood photograph of José Gabriel Muñoz.
José Gabriel Muñoz: Tapia Theater Performance
José Gabriel Muñoz performing at the Tapia Theater in San Juan, PR for the movie premiere of “Raúl Juliá: The World’s a Stage”.
José Gabriel Muñoz: Kennedy Center Concert
José Gabriel Muñoz performing at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Cuatrista
José Gabriel Muñoz in his beginning years as a cuatrista in the early 90’s.
José Gabriel Muñoz: Library of Congress Oral History Interview
Oral history interview at the Library of Congress.