"Grande Roda" (large/great circle)
The 'Grande Roda', as angoleiros call it, is the society in which we live, with all of its conflicts and contradictions.The same principles that we reflect on and practice in the "Pequena Roda" (the 'little' roda of capoeira) apply to the Grande Roda. These principles include, primarily, a collective struggle against oppression, with its base in solidarity and resilience/resistance. The history of Capoeira is a portrait of this struggle, from its origins in the plantations, mines, and docks built with the labor of men and women from Africa, to the stigmas and sterotypes that it confronts today as a symbol of the cultural inheritance of people of African descent.
The trahjectory of struggle that we received from our ancestors, from Queen Nzinga to Mestre Pastinha, from the kilombos to the legacy of black culture, must be accepted and deepened. Capoeira Angola is militant - and as such it must never cease to oppose social injustice, and to move towards social transformation through reflection, protest and education.
