COURTNEY POTTER / Staff

Oficina da Capoeira instructor Humberto Passos does cartwheels with his students during an adult capoeira class at Gymnastics World in Naples on Tuesday, July 8. Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian game that combines dance and martial arts with music and language. Passos says that it pivots more on balance and equilibrium and less on actual combat. "You don't do capoeira," Passos says. "You play capoeira."

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At 6:30 p.m., a full day of gymnastics classes has left behind the smell of chalk dust, sweat and bare feet at the entrance of Gymnastics World. The front desk lies abandoned. The Fort Myers gym is closing for the day.

But in a small dance studio anterior to the main gym, energy cuts through the air.

“Kick, kick, martelo!” Capoeira instructor Humberto Passos cries, his voice steady and smooth with a Portuguese accent. “Don’t be afraid! Kick, kick, martelo!”

He folds his toned arms against his black Oficina da Capoeira muscle T-shirt, his eyes narrowed with concentration as he studies the round-house kicks — or martelos — of his three young pupils.

Later, they play Capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian game that combines sport and dance, martial arts and game, music and language. Passos rhythmically strums his Berimbau — the bow-like instrument that fuels the game with its steady pulse — as a 10-year-old boy and 9-year-old girl spar. They rock back and forth, fluidly moving their feet in the basic triangular step.

“Capoeira is something you play, not do,” he says of the game, which originated in 16th-century Brazil among African slaves. Called a war dance or “the dance-fight for freedom,” slaves voiced their fight for liberation in the playful art form. Five hundred years later, Capoeira still plays a liberating role.

“Capoeira rescued me from a really rough time,” Passos says. “I was alone in Florida with no friends, no family. My life was all about a girl, and when we broke up, I was devastated. I heard about a capoeira school in Sarasota, so I decided to start training again.”

“People welcomed me,” he explains, “felt me. A few days later I forgot about the girl.”

He laughs.

Passos has been playing Capoeira almost every day since then. After training, he participated in matches that took him as far as New York. In December, he became an instructor at Oficina da Capoeira in Naples and Fort Myers.

Though it is gaining prominence in the United States, not everyone is quick to welcome it.

“I hear people say, ‘What is this?’” Passos says. “’It’s weird,’ they say. ‘And he has a funny accent.’”

But a little resistance has always brought Capoeristas closer together.

“We’re like a mini-family,” says student Nicholas Pacheco, 10, as he leaves the building with Passos after class. Passos rests his berimbau against the concrete exterior and hugs his stepdaughter Kylie Pamposelli, 9, who is also a pupil. Together the three capoeristas walk into amber light casting long shadows.

They will play again tomorrow.

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E-mail Courtney Potter at CAPotter@naplesnews.com