Sequências de Mestre Bimba

Quick Facts

About the kata

Sequências de Mestre Bimba are eight short sequences for two capoeiristas that Mestre Bimba introduced into the teaching of Capoeira Regional. Hellio Campos, in his book Capoeira Regional: a escola de Mestre Bimba, writes that they are eight parts made up of capoeira's main movements, arranged by increasing difficulty. The English Wikipedia ranks teaching through pre-set sequences among Bimba's main innovations. According to the record kept by the Barcelona school Matumbé Capoeira, the pair practice the movements in a fixed order without improvisation: student A attacks, student B defends and returns the counterattack. The first sequence thus gives the attacker Meia Lua de Frente twice, then Armada and Aú with rolê, while the defender answers with Cocorinha twice, then Negativa and Cabeçada. Later sequences add Queixada, Martelo, Godeme, Arpão or Meia Lua de Compasso. All eight in this record end the same way: one of the pair moves into Aú with rolê and the other answers with Negativa and Cabeçada, with the roles swapped in the fourth sequence. Campos calls the sequence the ABC of the capoeirista. The progression moves from simple to complex, and he says beginners can be given a simplified version of it.

The kata in different styles

Creator and history

According to Jair Moura, as quoted by Hellio Campos, Bimba created the sequence in the nineteen-forties to train and refine his students with it. The English Wikipedia also calls him the author of the first complete method for teaching capoeira. Bimba founded his first school in Salvador in 1932 and officially registered it on 9 June 1937.

Prerequisites

According to Campos, the sequence came up after the entrance test exame de admissão and after a lesson in which the student learned the Ginga: Bimba held his hands during it and stood facing him. Batizado followed only once the student knew the whole sequence. Advanced students then practised a second set, cintura desprezada, focused on throws, and at the final formatura Bimba asked graduates to demonstrate strikes, the sequence and the cintura desprezada.