Approaches between the Roda de Capoeira and the dithyrambic chorus in the Dionysian rituals of ancient Greece

Abstract

One of the Brazilian phenomena that presents the most possibilities of interpretation is, without a doubt, the performance art of capoeira. This is because it has a polysemic character that carries marks of dance, of fight, of game, of ritual and spectacle. Our research, based on the philosophical aesthetics perspective, sought to identify similar meanings between the dithyrambic chorus of the Dionysian cults and the practice of the roda de capoeira. We focus our analysis on the relationship between the meanings that may be manifest in the phenomenon of the roda de capoeira and how they resemble certain Dionysian cults. We seek to refer in particular to Nietzsche's analysis, which shows us how the Dionysian rituals represented, for the Greek people, more than mere distraction or religious dogma, becoming a central element in the relationship between man and nature, man and the divine, man and his fellow men. Our interpretations led us to identify mainly three congruences, namely: the breaking of the principle of individuation, a circular aesthetic orientation and a sense of ecstasy. From these possibilities of cross-interpretation we have identified that, although capoeira has suffered consequences on its aesthetic potential, it still maintains elements of its genesis, which presents a Dionysian power.