Maculele is a traditional Afro-Brazilian dance created by enslaved Africans who worked the sugar cane plantations in Brazil. The dance is performed with sticks and machetes, and its basic movements imitate the gestures of chopping sugar cane. It is believed that during their times of rest, slaves would practice the dance using the machetes which they had employed to cut down the sugar cane. The dance is performed in a ritual circle called the roda. Two players at a time dance together in the center of circle, while the other participants keep the rhythm by hitting their sticks or machetes together and taking turns leading the song. Many of the songs are in the Yoruba language, one of the languages spoken by the enslaved Africans, and they are accompanied by the atabaque, a traditional Brazilian drum, and the agogo or cow bell. The maculele rhythms are termed congo, afoxe, and barra vento.

For more information, see About Maculele