A Roda da Central: a capoeira de rua carioca, décadas de 1950 a 1970.

The “Roda da Central” was held during carnival in Rio de Janeiro from the 1950s until the Sambodrome was built in 1981. The capoeira roda didn't stop - it lasted 24 hours during the three days and nights of carnival at an improvised venue between the glamorous official parade of samba schools on Avenida Presidente Vargas and the Central do Brasil train station, which links the city to its suburbs, and through which a large number of revellers arrived. Despite the abundant documentation of the parades, no records or photographs document the Roda da Central. This article is based on the precious testimony of fifteen mestres who played a leading role in this roda. Their memories document the types of rhythms played and the rough and often violent games that took place in a volatile context of repression and patronage. Port workers, mostly black, were initially the main characters, gradually replaced by a younger and more diverse generation, for whom playing their first game at the Roda da Central was a rite of passage. The example of the Roda da Central shows how oral history can rebalance the narrative of capoeira history, often centred on its official, sports modality.