What is capoeira?

Capoeira is part martial arts and part dance. Masters were very against organization of slaves, it was their way of limiting rebellion and reinforcing fear in the slaves. The slaves were getting badly beaten on, they needed a way to learn self defense. They got creative in their ways of self defense and created the art of capoeira. Weapons were not allowed on the sugar and coffee plantations so this was perfect. The slaves would practice martial arts when they joined together, when they heard their masters coming they would start dancing. They chose one person to be the lookout. The lookout would play a different beat on the drums when the masters were coming to alert everyone. From the outside-in it just looked like the slaves were dancing with eachother so it was disregarded. Capoeira is still practiced today, certain aspects of it were used when break-dancing was created. https://youtu.be/JtATvjtbmWg?si=0kvhpiSp9A-ZkBDU