The discussion and exchanges with mestres and specialists on both sides of the Atlantic about the relatedness of their traditions was immensely helpful for the evolution of our own thinking on the matter. Earlier enquiries about capoeira “origins” often focus on specific movements or instruments – which was also our point of departure. The swiping kick known as “stingray’s tail” (rabo de arraia or meia lua de compasso), for instance, is often seen as a core marker of capoeira’s idiosyncrasy (because rare in other martial arts). The berimbau is considered to be at the heart of the game (even though it only entered capoeira practice in one location and probably only at the end of the nineteenth century).

We came to the conclusion that links between capoeira and Nyaneka combat games have far more importance on a spiritual plane than as regards their purely formal aspects. Capoeira and engolo each depend upon their particular body game – hence our title. Capoeira and its south Angolan counterparts are (or at least were) also games that could turn into serious fights. They share that strategic ambiguity. Although engolo appears in Brazilian accounts mostly as a dance it could also be mortal combat. Even friendly games could finish badly. That is why anybody entering the engolo circle in former times went in at his own risk, without being able to ask for any compensation. As the best-known engolo refrain goes: “Who dies in engolo is not wept for.”