Live the Game: Capoeira as a force for social change among at-risk young people–Life & Soul Magazine (2017)

Live the Game is a short documentary showing how capoeira, the Afro-Brazilian martial art, is being used as an agent for social change among at-risk young people in Cleveland, Ohio.

The documentary follows the lives of Anthony Santo Domingo, capoeira instructor, and student Demetri Tye. Live the Game speaks to their difficult upbringings and how studying capoeira helped them to overcome a lifetime of social issues such as bullying and violence.

Through the martial art of capoeira, Anthony Santo Domingo has been teaching young people and adults to become confident, active, and engaged leaders.

Capoeira was developed as a form of self-defence by the African people in Brasil in the 16th Century. Capoeira incorporated diverse elements of African culture including dance, music, acrobatics and various fighting forms.

The African people who were enslaved by the Portuguese, were forced to create an effective and unknown fighting form both as a means of defence and a way to free them from slavery.

Once free, the African Brazilian people formed hidden communities called Quilombos in the deep forest of the north-east of Brasil. There they were able to develop the fighting skill which today is known as capoeira. From the Quilombos to the streets of Salvador, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Capoeira thrived as an expression of life and resistance.

Anthony Santo Domingo, who started training capoeira in 2002, leads the training sessions at Capoeira Brasil Cleveland (CBCLE). He teaches capoeira to provide a comprehensive capoeira program and to help build a positive community for at risk youth and adults.