UNC group combines martial arts, music and dancing

On a beach in Brazil in the summer of 1984, Frederico Castelloes was swapping martial arts moves with a friend when he was first introduced to capoeira, a martial art that incorporates music and dancing.

Fast forward almost 20 years, and Castelloes, a lecturer in Portuguese at UNC, is now the adviser for the Carolina Capoeira Club.

Jay Raleigh, a junior and one of the founding members of the club, said he first became interested in capoeira in high school.

“I always wanted to try martial art, but this was the only one that incorporated music,” he said.

Raleigh said singing and instruments are incorporated into the practice. The players vary their speed and style of movements based on the sound of the berimbau, an instrument used to set the rhythm.

After coming to UNC, he and a friend started the club in the spring of 2012. Today the club has somewhere between five and 10 regular members that meet two to three times a week. The meetings consist of capoeira lessons taught by Raleigh or Castelloes.

Sophomore Saideep Gona joined the club last semester without any previous capoeira experience and said he has come to love the practice.

Castelloes said the martial art form was developed by African slaves in Brazil in the early 1600s, but its influences in African tribal song and dance date back even further.

“Capoeira is truly a combination of gymnastics, dance and martial arts,” he said.

The practice became a form of resistance among the slaves and was banned in Brazil for a time.

Raleigh said that much of what is known about capoeira today has been passed down orally from generation to generation.

“Capoeira was developed as a way to learn how to fight without making it seem like they were learning how to fight,” Raleigh said.

Castelloes said the Capoeira Club performs two popular styles: Capoeira Angola, which focuses more on the dance elements in the practice, and Capoeira Regional, which focuses on the martial arts aspect and, like other forms of martial arts, emphasizes ranking and different levels.

Castelloes first began teaching capoeira workshops to children and young adults in 1993 while living in Boone. When he taught at Appalachian State University, he offered a course on capoeira and, ultimately, hopes to do the same here at UNC.

“We definitely want to reach to the community to show them what capoeira is,” Castelloes said.

In the future, club members hope to perform a few demos for fellow students and strengthen their connection with other capoeira groups in the area.

“I would like capoeira to represent the Brazilian culture,” Castelloes said.

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