Maculelé com Facao (aka Dancing with Machetes)

As I’m coming to learn, Capoeira is much more than the kicks and cartwheels that most people picture. There are no fewer than four distinct dances that one must learn. Moreover, learning how to play the instruments and sing the songs is equally important to playing in the roda.

One of the most exciting dances is called Maculelé and is often performed with sticks though sometimes they bring out the machetes. Wisely they have not trusted me with the swords yet; my command of rhythm (lack of) couldn’t quite handle it.

Here’s a video of our group dancing maculelé.

Maculele com Facao from Michael Stein-Ross on Vimeo.