WHEN WALK BECOMES A DANCE

Abstract

In this essay, I will deal with the homo erectus - mammal, vertebrate, adept of the upright position. His condition as a body in the world can be described, I would say, from the idea of a vertical walker. This complex being erectus invented capoeira: Afro-descendant Brazilian cultural manifestation, a “war dance”, strategy of resistance, play, fight, art. Since 1996, I have dealt with this manifestation in several investigative, creative and pedagogical processes. So, I would like to stress in this essay that the support of ginga, a fundamental movement in its practice, re-presents the body’s pattern of displacement that sustains the biped walk, in his contralateral organization and in his perpetual questioning of balance. Transition strategy, capoeira is not attack nor defense, it is transit: ginga-rhizome. And dance.