Rolé
A low transitional capoeira movement, a circling turn close to the ground that links movements and also serves as an evasion.
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Rolé is a low transitional movement of capoeira, a circling turn close to the ground. The toes point forward, the hands touch the ground first and the legs sweep an arc in front; the movement resembles a roll, but the legs stay near the ground instead of passing over it. When the player ends up with their back to the opponent, they keep eye contact by looking between their legs. The variant rolê de cabeça places the head on the ground and serves to move into a headstand and change direction. Alongside ginga and aú, rolé is one of the basic ways of moving around the roda. It can start from ginga or almost any esquiva, and it serves to link movements, evade, set up a counterattack, and reposition in the roda. Unlike aú, in which the body passes over the hands above the ground into a handstand, rolé stays in a low crouch close to the ground. Unlike ginga, which stays standing, one can flow smoothly from it into negativa or aú de cabeça. In teaching it is one of the movements for beginners. Who introduced the movement, we have not been able to document.