Salomé

Salomé was a valentona - a tough, fearless woman - who practiced capoeira and samba in Salvador, Bahia during the 1920s and 1930s. Her skills earned her a place in capoeira history as one of the earliest documented female practitioners.

According to Mestre Atenilo (Altenísio dos Santos, 1916-1986), one of Mestre Bimba's oldest students, Salomé "cantava no samba e jogava capoeira" - she sang in samba and played capoeira. When asked about her, Atenilo became animated: "você encostava ela passava a rasteira e te botava de pernas pro ar" - if you touched her, she would sweep your legs and put you on your back. She would enter the Batuque and knock opponents down "duas três vezes" - two or three times. "Era valente!" he declared - she was brave!

Salomé, along with her companion Maria dos Anjos, was a student of the capoeirista known as Doze Homens. Both women were known for their passion for batuque (a form of combat/dance) and samba. When Bira Almeida questioned Atenilo about the women's identities, suggesting they might not have been "real women", Atenilo indignantly responded: "c'était des femmes, des vraies!" - they were women, real women!

This was a time when capoeira was still criminalized and the presence of women in the rodas was exceptional. Yet Salomé carved out her space through undeniable skill, becoming one of the legendary valentonas of Bahia alongside figures like Chicão, Angélica Endiabrada, and Rosa Palmeirão.

Salomé's legacy endures through the corrido "Adão, Adão" - a traditional call-and-response song still sung in rodas worldwide. The song asks "Ôi cadê Salomé, Adão?" (Where is Salomé, Adam?) with the response "Salomé foi passear" (Salomé went for a walk) or "foi para Ilha de Maré" (went to Maré Island). This song appeared on Mestre Pastinha's 1969 LP "Capoeira Angola, Mestre Pastinha e sua Academia", ensuring that her name continues to echo through capoeira circles more than a century after her prime.