Capoeira de Angola refers to every Capoeira that maintains traditions from before the creation of the Regional style. Existing in many parts of Brazil since colonial times, most notably in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Salvador and Recife, it’s impossible to tell where and when Capoeira Angola began taking its present form. The name Angola starts as early as the beginning of slavery in Brazil, when Africans, taken to Luanda to be shipped to the Americas, were called in Brazil “black people from Angola”, regardless of their nationality. The name Angola was finally immortalized by Mestre Pastinha on February 23, 1941, when he opened the Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola (CECA). The ideal of Capoeira Angola is to maintain Capoeira as close to its roots as possible. Characterized by being strategic, with sneaking movements executed standing or near the floor depending on the situation to face, it values the traditions of malícia, malandragem and unpredictability of the original Capoeira. Typical music bateria formation in a roda of Capoeira Angola is three berimbaus, two pandeiros, one atabaque, one agogô and one ganzuá.

Capoeira Regional began to take form in the 1920s, when Mestre Bimba met his future student, José Cisnando Lima. Both believed that Capoeira was losing its martial side and concluded there was a need to re-strengthen and structure it. Mestre Bimba created his sequências de ensino (teaching combinations) and created Capoeira’s first teaching method. Advised by Cisnando, Mestre Bimba decided to call his style Luta Regional Baiana, as Capoeira was still illegal at that time. The base of Capoeira Regional is the original Capoeira without many of the aspects that were impractical in a real fight, with less subterfuge and more objectivity. Training focuses mainly on attack, dodging and counter-attack, giving high importance to precision and discipline. Mestre Bimba also added a few moves from other arts, notably the batuque, an old street fight game invented by his father. Capoeira Regional also introduced the first ranking method in Capoeira. Regional had three levels: calouro (freshman), formado (graduated) and formado especializado (specialist). The traditions of roda and Capoeira game were kept, being used to put into use what was learned during training. The disposition of musical instruments, however, was changed, being made by a single berimbau and two pandeiros.