Capoeira Miudinho
A capoeira game associated with Mestre Suassuna of Cordão de Ouro. According to Suassuna, it is not a new style but a closer game with its own rhythm.
Quick Facts
BrazilCharacter & Origin
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Capoeira Miudinho
About Capoeira Miudinho
Capoeira miudinho is a game of capoeira associated with Mestre Suassuna of Cordão de Ouro, which Agência Pública calls a style. According to Portal Capoeira (2005), Suassuna said that miudinho is not a new capoeira but another way of showing capoeira, just as there is the jogo de Iuna or the jogo de São Bento Grande. In his own words, he wanted a closer game, mais miúdo, mais dentro, and created a rhythm on the berimbau for it. Cressoni (2013) recorded the testimony of a capoeirista who says one plays miudinho when the berimbau plays miudinho, just like benguela or angola. Portal Capoeira states that in the 1990s Suassuna passed on to his youngest students about 12 individual and 2 group sequences. According to the 2007 documentation of the Brazilian heritage authority IPHAN, Cordão de Ouro is among the main groups of the current that combines elements of capoeira regional and angola. We have not found any academic work devoted to miudinho itself.
History
The 2007 IPHAN documentation states that from 1960 a group of Bahian masters taught in São Paulo, Suassuna among them, and its list of masters gives him as Inaldo Ramos Suassuna, while Agência Pública writes Reinaldo Ramos Suassuna. Cressoni, citing Fonseca, reports the founding of Cordão de Ouro by masters Suassuna (regional) and Brasília (angola) as an example of joining both currents and a milestone in the rise of capoeira contemporânea. The Raridades da Capoeira site dates the founding of the group to 1 September 1967. According to Portal Capoeira, Mestre Gato spoke of miudinho as early as 1996.
How it differs
Opinions on the nature of miudinho differ. According to Portal Capoeira, Suassuna claims he restored old capoeira and modernized the way it is played, Mestre Gato in 1996 called it angola played faster, and Mestre Brasília simply capoeira. The IPHAN documentation places Cordão de Ouro in a current it calls capoeira contemporânea, de vanguarda or atual, which combines elements of regional and angola, but does not mention miudinho.
Technique
According to Portal Capoeira, Suassuna says that capoeiristas played too far apart, whereas in his time people played bem pertinho, and so he wanted a game mais miúdo, mais dentro. Mestre Brasília states that Mestre Canjiquinha also had a similar game on the inside, suingado and ligeiro. The song Miudinho by Prof. Pinauna, printed by Portal Capoeira, sings that miudinho is neither angola nor regional but jogo manhoso and jogo-de-dentro.
Training
Portal Capoeira writes that Suassuna built training sequences with his students to preserve the most valuable part of capoeira movement, at a time when he feared the art would be distorted. A respondent in Cressoni's work (2013) says that anyone training with Mestre Suassuna must do a sequence, and calls him a living legend of capoeira.
Today
The Raridades da Capoeira site writes about a new generation of Suassuna's students, among them Boca Rica, Habibs, Mintirinha and Kibe, who lead a game rich in plastic movements, known as the miudinho generation. A respondent in Cressoni's work describes Suassuna's style as somewhat older, with a different way of singing. IPHAN registered roda de capoeira and the craft of capoeira masters as intangible heritage in 2008 and UNESCO registered roda de capoeira in 2014, and neither registration mentions miudinho.
Did you know
The Raridades da Capoeira site states that the name Cordão de Ouro comes from a song refrain heard on the radio and refers to Besouro Cordão de Ouro, a capoeirista from before the split into angola and regional. According to the same site, Suassuna was also known as Nado.
Frequently asked questions
Is miudinho a separate style of capoeira?
According to Portal Capoeira, Mestre Suassuna says it is not a new capoeira but another way of playing, like the jogo de Iuna. IPHAN and UNESCO registrations do not mention miudinho.
Who introduced miudinho?
Portal Capoeira and Agência Pública associate it with Mestre Suassuna of Cordão de Ouro, who in his own words also created its rhythm on the berimbau.
How does miudinho differ from angola?
According to Portal Capoeira, Mestre Gato called it angola played faster. The song by Prof. Pinauna sings that miudinho is neither angola nor regional but jogo-de-dentro.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.