{{Short description|African and Afro-Brazilian circular dance formation}} {{Other uses|Roda (disambiguation)}} [[File:Roda de capoeira2.jpg|thumb|right|A capoeira roda in Farroupilha Park, Porto Alegre, Brazil (2007)]]
'''Roda''' (Portuguese pronunciation: [[Help:IPA/Portuguese|[ˈʁɔdɐ]]] - wheel or circle) is the circular formation within which participants perform diverse African and Afro-Brazilian dance and music. Common examples of these art forms are capoeira (including maculelê), engolo, and samba in the subgenres ''de roda'' and ''pagode''. By extension, the participants may refer to events featuring those performances as a ''roda,'' as in "We will have a ''roda'' next Saturday." Sometimes, the name of the art can follow the name of the ''roda'' event, such as in "Last week's ''roda de samba'' was fun!"
Part of the etiquette of the ''roda'' means that the people in it should try to keep the ''roda'' circular and fill in any "gaps" that may appear if someone leaves the formation; in other words, the people should be evenly distributed in the circumference of the ''roda'', especially if there are not many people in it. Another important etiquette is giving energy to the people performing, since making all participants feel included, by clapping, singing, performing, and supporting each other, is essential in the community-building that a ''roda'' allows.<ref name=":03">{{Cite book |last=Talmon-Chvaicer |first=Maya |title=The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=2010 |pages=111-149}}</ref>
==Capoeira circle== {{Infobox intangible heritage | Name = Capoeira circle | Country = Brazil | ID = 00892 | Region = LAC | Year = 2014 | List = Representative | Session = 9th }}''Roda'' is extremely important for ''capoeira'', a Brazilian martial arts and dance form, because it is the main formation of this martial art and shows spectators the full involvement of the participants and musicians, as well as the shared knowledge between them. It is a way of showcasing the ''capoeira'' community with each member complementing each other and understanding, by observing ''roda'' members, how they can also add to their own ''capoeira'' practice in the process, a constant learning experience.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Valério |first=Pedro Henrique Martins |last2=Barreira |first2=Cristiano Roque Antunes |date=2016 |title=A roda de capoeira: uma vivência comunitária |url=https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/memorandum/article/view/6496 |journal=Memorandum: Memória e História em Psicologia |language=pt |volume=30 |pages=177–198 |issn=1676-1669}}</ref>
In the circular formation of ''capoeira'', roles are interchangeable: spectators can become participants, participants can become musicians, and musicians can become spectators, to name a few variations of roles. The soloist ''Mestre de Capoeira'' leads, with observers responding collectively, and roles shift throughout the game—a tradition found in Bantu and Yoruba ethnic groups.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Talmon-Chvaicer |first=Maya |title=The hidden history of capoeira: a collision of cultures in the Brazilian battle dance |date=2008 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-71723-7 |edition=1st |location=Austin, TX |pages=159}}</ref> thumb|252x252px|''Roda de Capoeira'' - ''Capoeira'' Circle The people who form the ''roda'' will take turns to perform inside the circle. Some of the people in the ''roda'' may be mere spectators, in the sense that they will not go inside the circle, but they are expected to contribute to the ''roda'' by at least clapping and singing. This can be compared to other art forms, such as tap dancing, where participants will form a circle and take turns performing inside the circle.
True learning in capoeira takes place within the player interaction during the ''roda'', rather than in structured instruction sessions.
<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Capoeira |first=Nestor |title=The Little Capoeira Book |year=2007 |isbn=9781583941980}}</ref> In the ''roda'', participants learn not only moves and kicks but also strategies applicable in the game itself and in the broader "game" of life.<ref name=":0" />
In 2014, the capoeira circle was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The convention recognized that the "capoeira circle is a place where knowledge and skills are learned by observation and imitation" and that it "promotes social integration and the memory of resistance to historical oppression".<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-11-26 |title=Brazil's capoeira gains UN cultural heritage status |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-30219941 |access-date=2026-04-12 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Capoeira circle - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage |url=https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/capoeira-circle-00892 |access-date=2026-04-12 |website=ich.unesco.org |language=en}}</ref>
=== Circle as a physical concept === One of the most important points of the circle is to create a physical boundary between the external world and the participants, musicians, and spectators of a ''roda''. By creating this boundary, no people outside the circle could join the ''capoeira'' game, unless allowed by the ''capoeiristas''. This matters because ''capoeira'' started in a context of slavery in Brazil, being practiced by enslaved people mostly in secret and as a way to maintain their African roots through cultural manifestations in dance and music forms, as well as being ready for possible conflicts against the colonizers by practicing a martial art. After abolition in Brazil, ''capoeira'' was still practiced in secrecy for decades, since the Brazilian authorities prohibited any form of cultural manifestations related to African culture and Afro-Brazilian culture, including ''capoeira, samba,'' and c''andomblé''''.''<ref name=":03" />
Besides being this physical boundary, there is another important aspect of the physical concept of ''capoeira'', the ''volta ao mundo'' (circling the world). In ''volta ao mundo'', the two ''capoeiristas'' playing stop the game, and one of them marches around the circle. This happens when one of the ''capoeiristas'' playing falls or shows signs of fatigue, being a break from the game, helping to rest before the game is resumed, and allowing the ''capoeirista'' performing to better have a chance to demonstrate to the public that they are the one most likely to win the game. In the 1960s, ''volta ao mundo'' used to be performed before the beginning of a ''capoeira'' game. So, the game had no breaks for resting or recovering, since the ''volta ao mundo'' was not used when one of the ''capoeiristas'' got tired.<ref name=":03" />
=== Spiritual meanings of the circle === The circle has a lot of spiritual meanings brought by the enslaved people to Brazil. In Kongo, for example, the circle represents the universe and reincarnation, as the cycle of life-death-rebirth, called Bakongo cosmology, containing the conception, birth, maturity, and death. thumb|''Capoeira'' ''au'' movement For ''capoeiristas'', the circle enables people to contact their ancestors and traditions, transitioning to other states of consciousness. A common way to represent this connection with ancestors in ''capoeira'' is with the ''au'' movement, when hands touch the ground and feet go to the air, contacting the ground with ancestors believed to be below the earth. Many ''capoeiristas'' report not remembering what happened during a ''roda,'' from when they start performing in it, with the ''au'' movement, until the ''roda'' ends. Also, both Kongo and Yoruba religions share spiritual knowledge related to circles, specifically, with three different circles, all represented in a ''roda de capoeira''. The first circle means the world, the community, or the village, represented by the spectators in a ''capoeira'' circle. The second one means people who have ancestral knowledge in them but are still alive, represented by the ''capoeiristas'' playing in the circle. Lastly, the third circle represents the spiritual world, shown in ''capoeira'' in the interaction between all ''roda'' members: players, musicians, and spectators.<ref name=":03" />
=== Maculelê === thumb|290x290px|''Capoeiristas'' preparing to start ma''culelê'' Maculelê is a form of martial art and dance, considered part of ''capoeira,'' like a sub-genre, and almost exclusively performed in ''rodas de capoeira.'' It originated in Santo Amaro and is known for the use of sticks as both musical instruments and weapons. Famous ''mestres'' (masters) ''de capoeira'', such as Mestre Bimba and Mestre Pastinha, started including ''maculelê'' in their own exhibitions and ''rodas'', becoming present in many ''capoeira'' schools nowadays.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Assunção |first=Matthias Röhrig |title=Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art |year=2005}}</ref>
The most famous implementations of ''maculelê'' in the circular formation of ''capoeira'' are the implementation of some steps using sticks as a type of warming-up exercise. In some ''rodas de capoeira'', maculelê can also be included in an actual ''capoeira'' performance as an additional resource or as a special kind of game between the participants.<ref name=":1" />
== Engolo circle == [[File:Golpe de engolo e defesa baixa.jpg|thumb|Engolo circle in Angola, 2010.]]
Within the Bantu culture, in modern-day Angola, the circle carries profound symbolism. Village dwellings are frequently arranged in circular formations, and communal meals are enjoyed while seated in a circle.<ref name="Talmon-Chvaicer"/> Dancing in a circle holds significance, representing protection and strength, symbolizing the bond with the spirit world, life, and the divine.<ref name="Talmon-Chvaicer">Talmon-Chvaicer, M. (2004). Verbal and Non-Verbal Memory in Capoeira. Sport in Society, 7(1), 49–68. doi:10.1080/1461098042000220182 </ref>
The practice of engolo, as documented by Neves e Sousa in the 1950s, involves a circle of singing participants and potential combatants. Sometimes, this circle is overseen by a ''kimbanda'', a ritual specialist. The game starts with clapping and call-and-response songs, some of them featuring humming instead of lyrics.<ref name="Desch-Obi"/> A practitioner enters the circle, dancing and shouting, and when another participant joins, they engage in a dance-off, assessing each other's skills. This interaction incorporates kicks and sweeps, with defenders using dodges and blending techniques to counterattack smoothly. This cycle continues until one participant concedes defeat, feels the match is complete, or the kimbanda overseeing the match calls for its conclusion.<ref name="Desch-Obi">{{cite book |last=Desch-Obi|first=M. Thomas J.|year=2008 |title=Fighting for Honor: The History of African Martial Art Traditions in the Atlantic World |location=Columbia |publisher=University of South Carolina Press |isbn=978-1-57003-718-4}}</ref>
In engolo games documented in the 2010s, players often initiate the engolo circle by challenging others. In such cases, they enthusiastically leap into the circle, showcasing agile movements and occasional shouts while awaiting someone to join and engage in the play. They can also select a specific individual to join them by using kicks or simulated kicks.<ref name="Matthias">[https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368228573_Engolo_and_Capoeira_From_Ethnic_to_Diasporic_Combat_Games_in_the_Southern_Atlantic Matthias Röhrig Assunção, Engolo and Capoeira. From Ethnic to Diasporic Combat Games in the Southern Atlantic]</ref>
== Samba Circle == There are two main types of ''samba'' known as being performed in a ''roda'': the ''samba de roda'', from Recôncavo Baiano, and the ''roda de samba'', from Rio de Janeiro. There are a few differences in those two styles, a consequence of the different ways ''samba'' developed in those two places. The most significant one is the nomenclature used for the people who perform ''samba'', known as ''sambistas'' in Rio de Janeiro and called ''sambadeiros'' and ''sambadeiras'' in Recôncavo Baiano. Academics often use these different nomenclatures as a way for the readers to identify which ''samba'' they are talking about. There is also a subgenre of samba performed in the ''roda'' formation, the ''pagode.''<ref name=":5">{{Cite journal |last=Döring |first=Katharina |year=2015 |title=Memórias fractais do Samba de Roda - Patrimônio cênico-musical em voz, gesto, som e movimento |url=http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=82242883015 |journal=Trans. Revista Transcultural de Música |volume=19 |pages=1-25}}</ref>
When ''samba'' is performed in a ''roda'', it is intrinsically connected to the desire of the ''samba'' dancers and musicians to express their pride in their own cultural traditions, usually related to African roots, and benefit emotionally, physically, and spiritually from the practice of a ''roda''.<ref name=":5" />
=== ''Samba de Roda'' - Recôncavo Baiano === {{Infobox intangible heritage | Name = Samba de Roda of the Recôncavo of Bahia | Country = Brazil | ID = 00101 | Region = LAC | Year = 2008 | List = Representative | Session = 3rd }} Recôncavo Baiano is known as a place that unites all cultures of enslaved African people. Due to the transatlantic slave trade, people from different nations of Africa came to Brazil in the same time period, bringing with them diverse cultural practices from their regions. It was in Recôncavo Baiano that these practices were recreated, and culture was shared among enslaved people. The ''samba de roda'' from Recôncavo Baiano was originally proclaimed as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage in November 2005. In 2008, ''samba de roda'' was officially inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. <ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Miranda Freitas |first=Joseania |last2=Gomes Ferreira |first2=Luzia |last3=de Jesus |first3=Priscila Maria |title=Obras-Primas do Patrimonio Oral e Imaterial da Humanidade: o Carnaval de Barranquilla, o Palenque de San Basílio (Colombia) e o Samba de Roda do Reconcavo Baiano (Brasil) |url=https://periodicoseletronicos.ufma.br/index.php/rbrascaribe/article/view/2457 |journal=Revista brasileira do Caribe |volume=07 |issue=14}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Samba de Roda of the Recôncavo of Bahia - UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage |url=https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/samba-de-roda-of-the-reconcavo-of-bahia-00101 |access-date=2026-04-12 |website=ich.unesco.org |language=en}}</ref>
In the ''Samba de Roda'', the circular formation is important to practice values of community and belonging, practiced in Recôncavo Baiano since the colonial period by Afro-Brazilians and Africans. Even though ''samba de roda'' is not entirely African, with thumb|299x299px|''Samba de Roda'' in Recôncavo Baianocultural elements from Portuguese and Indigenous cultures, the ''roda'' songs usually focus on the daily lives of Afro-Brazilians, as a way for them to find the values mentioned above of community and belonging.<ref name=":3" />
The ''roda'' had gender roles that value the importance of both men and women participating. It is common that men will play the instruments and the women will dance ''samba''. Without songs, there is no ''samba''. With no ''samba'', there is no ''roda''. Another important role of ''samba de roda'' is connected with two religions: Catholicism and C''andomblé.'' Both religions, sometimes practiced together by ''roda'' members in religious syncretism, have important spiritual celebrations and festivals that include ''samba de roda''. Some examples include ''samba de roda'' in the catholic festival of Nossa Senhora da Boa Morte, in the city of ''Cachoeira'', and as a way to end the c''andomblé terreiro'' festival of the ''Nagô'' (Ketu) nation.<ref name=":3" />
=== ''Roda de Samba'' - Rio de Janeiro === thumb|348x348px|''Roda de Samba'' in Rio de Janeiro In the 20th Century, while ''samba'' started being commercialized and institutionalized in Rio de Janeiro, many ''sambistas'' felt like they were losing some of the essence of ''samba'' in the process, especially in relation to the cultural heritage of this dance and music form. As a way to find a place where ''samba'' was preserved without being commercialized, they started to dance and play ''samba'' in the ''roda''. It was a way to celebrate in community with the ''samba'' that those ''sambistas'' learned and grew up practicing, with a sense of home found in the ''roda'' due to its community-building. <ref name=":4">{{Cite journal |last=Grillo |first=Barbara |date=2022-01-31 |title=Quando a festa é rito: uma apreensão dos sentidos em uma roda de samba no Rio de Janeiro |url=https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2316-9133.v30i2pe181340 |journal=Cadernos de Campo (São Paulo - 1991) |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=e181340 |doi= |issn=2316-9133}}</ref>
The formation of ''samba'' in a ''roda'' creates a space that allows a constant interaction between the ''sambistas'' and the spectators. Many times, as well as in ''capoeira'', spectators would become dancers or musicians. This type of formation allowed relationships to be built between ''sambistas'' and the public, with a sense of belonging for both groups. The ''roda'' could constantly be organized around a table or in the kitchen of someone's house, uniting friends and family to have fun and feel at home, even if the house was not theirs. <ref name=":4" />
The ''roda de samba'' can be comprehended, then, as a place in which spectators, dancers, and musicians co-exist at the same time and mutually contribute to the experience. In this context, the ''roda de samba'' is characterized by Grillo (2021)<ref name=":4" /> as a ritual, due to its connections of social experience in a deep development of mind, body, and spirit with social and political meanings behind the performance, deeply connected to the origins of ''samba'', the commercialization of this genre, and the cultural roots of ''samba'' in Africa.
=== ''Pagode'' === With the commercialization of ''samba,'' many musicians were worried about the loss of African roots in this dance and music style. ''Pagode'' emerged in the 1970s and 1980s as a response to the ''escolas de samba'' (samba schools) commercialization, creating a new subgenre of ''samba'' that blends ''samba'' elements with modern sounds. With an innovative sound, ''pagode'' became popular for Brazilians from all socioeconomic classes, especially for middle-class Brazilians, while reclaiming the Afro-Brazilian history and culture present in ''samba''.<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal |last=Galinsky |first=Philip |date=1996 |title=Co-option, Cultural Resistance, and Afro-Brazilian Identity: A History of the "Pagode" Samba Movement in Rio de Janeiro |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/780347 |journal=Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=120 |doi=10.2307/780347 |issn=0163-0350|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
''Roda'' is already present in ''pagode'' because of the surprising word it derived from: ''pagoda,'' a type of tower common in Asian Buddhist temples, related to the Noble Eightfold Path. This connection exists because it is common to walk around a ''pagoda'' in circles with other people, forming a similar formation as in the ''roda de'' ''pagode''. The similarities of ''pagode'' with Buddhism end there, since the context in which ''pagode'' was created, in Brazilian ''favelas'', and persecuted by authorities, is much more connected to Brazilian history and culture.<ref name=":2" /> thumb|406x406px|''Cacique de Ramos'' mural honoring the formation of ''Pagode'' by ''Grupo Fundo de Quintal'' ''Pagode'' started in the backyard of ''samba'' musicians, around a large table. There, people from some ''blocos de carnaval'' would eat, drink, and play ''samba'' with new differences that originated in ''pagode''. The ''roda'' would happen around the table, as an informal way to play music, sing, and dance with friends and family. As in any ''roda'', everyone would be expected to contribute with at least singing and clapping. An example is the ''bloco de carnaval'' Cacique de Ramos, which would take a break after rehearsing in one of the ''bloco'' members' houses every Wednesday evening. There, the first ''pagode'' group was created: ''Grupo Fundo de Quintal''.<ref name=":2" />
==Literature== *{{cite book|title=Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art|last=Assunção|first=Matthias Röhrig|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7146-8086-6|title-link=Capoeira: The History of an Afro-Brazilian Martial Art}} *{{cite book|title=Capoeira: Roots of the Dance-Fight-Game|last=Capoeira|first=Nestor|publisher=Blue Snake Books|year=2002|isbn=978-1-58394-637-4}} *{{cite book|title=The Little Capoeira Book|last=Capoeira|first=Nestor|publisher=Blue Snake Books|year=2007|isbn=9781583941980}} *{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/trent_0116405595467|url-access=registration|title=The Hidden History of Capoeira: A Collision of Cultures in the Brazilian Battle Dance|last=Talmon-Chvaicer|first=Maya|publisher=University of Texas Press|year=2008|isbn=978-0-292-71723-7}}
==References== {{reflist|2}}
==See also== {{commonscat}} *Capoeira
{{Capoeira}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roda (dancing)}} Category:Capoeira Category:Circle dances Category:Engolo