Rio Branco is a photographer and filmmaker who has been a Magnum correspondent since 1980. In this work, the artist depicts two boys engaged in capoeira, a highly stylized form of fighting in Brazil that has been compared to a combination of karate and ballet. Practice fights are pantomimed and accompanied by the lutelike berimba. Most important, the object of the jousting is not only to conquer your opponent but to vanquish him using elaborate tricks and singsong verbal taunts.

Open full-size and alternate view(s)