Connecting to a deeper spirituality through dance-like movement, and sweeping acrobatics, the Afro-Brazilian art of capoeira is a martial art performed under the guise of dance. Its roots traced back to the Engolo tradition of Angola – a movement-driven style of ritualistic combat – capoeira developed as a route to personal expression under the weight of colonial oppression, and a means of cultural preservation for those distanced from their natural environment.

From its origins in 16th century Brazil, the once-outlawed art form grew into a symbol of liberation, combining the cultural influence of enslaved Africans, Indigenous Brazilians and Portuguese settlers in a poetic means of disarmament and self-defence. In short film PUMA, director Jonangelo Molinari follows one of Brazil’s leading capoeiristas, Puma Camille, who is pushing the art form further through a hybridized performance style, combining capoeira with voguing.

Discovering the vogue scene during travels accompanying her capoeira successes, São Paulo-born Puma identified parallels between the two movement styles through a shared philosophy built on resistance and rebellion, developing a unique practice combining elements of both. Through her experiences as a black trans woman, Puma found in both art forms a sense of defiance – capoeira as a form of resistance from slavery, and voguing as a celebration of queer identities amid the LGBTQIA-phobic landscape of ‘80s Harlem – each with their origins in the search for freedom.

Casting a dreamlike lens over the creative landscape that birthed it, PUMA follows the seamless synergy between two performance styles, interpreted as one. Each heavy with historical context, the film explores the spiritual connection and sense of identity found through these distinct forms of movement – created by, and for, marginalized communities. Documenting Puma’s singular practice through the connectedness it brings and the influential forces behind her pursuit of unexplored ground, Molinari creates a picture of an art form for which the personal is the driving principle, finding fluidity in new experiments with movement.