Last week, we had the pleasure of hosting Mrs. Fiona Merrill El Mansour and 12 of her students from one of our primary feeder schools, the Japanese International School (JIS). They generously offered their time to facilitate an engaging Capoeira workshop for our Year 10 students.

The workshop formed part of our Year 10 unit, “Technologies for Consciousness,” where students research a range of tools and practices that can alter states our of consciousness. These include caffeine, smoking, drugs, exercise (such as yoga and HIIT), mindfulness techniques, breathwork, and music, among others, as a way of inviting our students to consider some of the technologies they might reliably draw on to make them feel better about themselves and the perception of the world they live. The unit is part of our HT programme, designed to support our commitment to well-being and graduate students who bear the hallmarks of sustainable people. The unit concluded with an exploration of another potentially transformative practice: Capoeira.

The Capoeira facilitator, Fiona, has been practicing for over 20 years. She holds the title of Mestre, the Portuguese term for "master," awarded to practitioners who have achieved a high level of skill, knowledge, and dedication to preserving Capoeira’s cultural and historical roots.

Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that blends dance, acrobatics, music, and spirituality. It originated in the 16th century and was created by enslaved Africans brought to Brazil by Portuguese colonisers. Forbidden from openly practicing self-defense, they disguised their martial art as a dance. Over centuries, Capoeira evolved into a rich cultural expression, blending African traditions with Brazilian influences. Once practiced in secret due to its association with rebellion, it is now celebrated globally as a symbol of resistance, resilience, and cultural identity.

After Fiona’s brief introduction to the history and origins of Capoeira, the session quickly moved into action. Fiona and her students impressed everyone with their captivating demonstrations of skill, energy, and expertise. Our Year 10 students eagerly joined in, experimenting with the rhythmic movements, music, and acrobatics.

Capoeira Through the Human Technologies Lens

The practice of Capoeira, like any technology, offers a range of benefits (or harms) depending on its user and context. For the enslaved Africans who created and practiced it, Capoeira likely served as a way to regain a sense of control over their bodies, which had been stripped from them under the brutal conditions of enslavement. In this way, Capoeira operated as a psychosomatic technology, empowering people to reconnect with their mind-body systems. It also acted as a social technology, fostering a sense of community and collective identity in a context where social structures had been violently dismantled. Practicing Capoeira in secret strengthened trust, cooperation, and solidarity while offering a subtle yet powerful form of resistance against their oppressors.

Capoeira may also have served as a spiritual technology, providing practitioners with a way to connect with the metaphysical and transcend their immediate suffering. Rooted in African traditions, its rituals, music, and movements carried symbolic meanings that helped individuals find purpose and meaning, even in dehumanising conditions. This cultural and spiritual heritage likely gave practitioners strength and resilience in unimaginable circumstances.

For our students, the benefits of Capoeira will depend on their individual experiences and contexts. What stood out most, however, was the potential for its ability to integrate mind and body—a key focus of the “Technologies for Consciousness” unit and the enveloping psychosomatic domain of the HT lens.Through dynamic movements, rhythm, and physical exertion, students were able to explore how physical activity can be a powerful tool for reducing stress, promoting mindfulness, in order to positively impact mental and emotional well-being. 

Another clear benefit was the communal aspect of Capoeira. As a social technology, it required trust, cooperation, and mutual respect from all participants. Both JIS students and our Year 10s worked together to synchronise movements and engage in non-verbal communication, forming bonds through shared activity. This interaction also required courage from everyone involved: the younger JIS students demonstrated bravery by teaching a new skill to older students, who likely appeared much bigger  and intimidating, and our Year 10 students embraced the unfamiliar practice with enthusiasm and open minds, stepping out of their comfort zones with admirable positivity.

Whether or not our students choose to revisit any of the sustainable technologies we’ve explored throughout the unit will always be their decision to make. Our hope, however, is that through these hands-on experiences, they have gained an embodied understanding—a form of tacit knowledge—that these technologies can be relied upon to bring joy and relief in the face of life’s challenges.

We extend our heartfelt thanks to Mrs. Fiona Merrill El Mansour and her JIS students for their generosity, skill, and dedication in sharing their love of Capoeria with us.