Grading and Cords

For a capoeirista, it’s hard to beat the feeling you get when you receive a different coloured cord at your Batizado in recognition of your progress in the art form. You’re proud of your achievement—and you should be. In Bantus it takes a lots of effort to cover the grounds on which one will be considered for a change of cord. It is hard-earned.

Before we venture further let’s set the record straight about what getting a higher level cord is not. It’s not about having the right to belittle younger students, whether in a roda or on the streets. It’s not about being able to execute flawless aerials to wow a crowd. It’s not about brilliant singing or playing of any of the instruments.

What it is however, is far more difficult to attain. Mestre Pintor agrees to award a person with a higher cord based on strength of character and maturity. Maturity breeds humility, and from there stems the natural desire to step beyond one’s personal interests and instead labour with those of others in mind.

If it all sounds rather abstract at this point, well, it is—Bantus doesn’t operate purely by numbers and a hard-coded syllabus. Perhaps now though, you’d understand why it would take different people different lengths of time to attain the various cords we have in our school.

To our green-cord students, much is expected of you. Not only will you need to train even harder in your movements, music and singing, you should be showing more interest in the actual day-to-day running of the academy as compared to your junior counterparts. Demonstrate your accountability to Bantus and be mindful about maintaining its good reputation.

Whether you intended for it or not, you will be looked up to as mentors and examples to be followed by the younger students, so keep your noses clean. Remember that genuine respect never comes automatically, but is, as with most good things, earned.

Moving on to another aspect of cords, here’s the gist of the various colours which Bantus awards to its students:

Beginner Cords

• White/Black/Red (Coral—named after the coral snake)
• Green
• Green/Yellow

Intermediate Cords

• Yellow
• Yellow/Blue

Advance Cords

• Blue (Aluno Graduado—graduated student)
• Blue/White (Transitional—for students who may not be ready for the next cord)
• Blue/Green (Aluno Formado)
• Blue/Green/Yellow (Professor)
• Blue/Green/White (Contra-mestre)
• Blue/Green/White/Yellow (Mestre)

Having said all this, Rafael keeps saying that ultimately the cord is just a string to hold your abadas up—meaning that a capoeirista’s worth is not necessarily dictated by the colour of the cord he wears