Capoeira was born of desperation. Slaves created this Afro-Brazilian martial art during the era of Portuguese colonialism to train themselves in hand-to-hand combat without their masters catching on. They would use music and song to cover up capoeira’s actual purpose, and over time it became both a disciplined martial art as well as a physically demanding gymnastic dance style. Over time, song and dance became integral parts of the practice.

This year, Harvard’s Arts First festival will see Harvard Capoeira Regional—a group on campus that practices the marital art—perform “capoeira regional,” which, unlike some other styles of capoeira, emphasizes the original Brazilian heritage of the art form. The leader of this group, John Hill ’12, is excited about the performing in the festival. “[Capoeira] is an art form in that it is a martial art, but it also incorporates gymnastics and dance.” For Hill, the history of capoeira is one of the things that makes it such a unique fighting style. “All martial arts have their historical foundations, and capoeira is no different,” he says.

Hill described how he got into the martial art after seeing it in “The Protector,” a Thai film in which one of the fighters is a capoeirista. After he saw the movie, he researched the fighting style and watched YouTube videos of famous fighters. However, he only started really practicing the art form after he came to Harvard. “I saw a demonstration at the activities fair, and the rest is history,” he says.

What makes capoeira distinct from other styles is the environment that must surround its practitioners. There’s a ring of singers and musicians playing the traditional instruments of capoeira, and in the center the dancers compete to the rhythm set by the group. The entire structure of a fight, including the fighters and the musicians, is known as a “roda.” The songs sung at these “rodas” traditionally are about the lives of slaves and the places they had visited.

Over time, capoeira has taken its musical roots and incorporated it into the practice. The result is a martial art that is beautiful to watch. “It’s a dance-fight-game,” Hill says. Instead of using phrases like, “fight” or “dance,” he emphasizes that the members of the group come to “play” capoeira. “Yes you’re kicking at somebody else, but you’re doing it in a rhythmic fashion. It’s a game played between two people, among a number of other people,” he says.

As one of over 200 exhibitions and performances at Arts First, Harvard Capoeira Regional will put on one of the only performances featuring martial arts. For Jack Megan, the director of the Office for the Arts, Arts First is in part a showcase of the variety of artistic groups on campus. “These four days call attention to the fact that the arts are important to students at Harvard, and we ought to celebrate what we have,” he says. Between capoeira, Russian folk music, a cappella performances, and Punjabi dance recitals, Harvard Capoeira Regional is one of the groups on campus that exemplifies the artistic diversity of Harvard. “From cultural extremes of A to Z, we’re really trying to capture the breadth of the [Harvard] environment,” Megan says.

—Staff writer Bryan S. Erickson can be reached at berickson@college.harvard.edu.