During the 20th century capoeira underwent a process of modernisation.
Paramount to this development were the ‘Regional’
and ‘Angola’ styles developed in Bahia from the
1930s onwards by mestres (= teachers, ‘masters’)
Bimba and Pastinha. Whilst adepts of Regional insisted on
changes introduced to make capoeira more ‘efficient’
when competing with other martial arts, angoleiros claim to
stick to the traditional capoeira as much as possible. These
styles were exported to other regions of Brazil were they
underwent further changes. In Rio de Janeiro and São
Paulo these styles fused during the 1960s and 1970s to the
extent that many practitioners today don’t want to be
classified as either ‘Regional’ or ‘Angola’,
but rather claim to practice ‘contemporary capoeira’.
Others, in particular the adepts of capoeira Angola, insist
that it is hardly possible to learn seriously different styles
at the same time and have opted to practice only one modality,
capoeira Angola.
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