I am unaware of Capoiera having set form like kata. It is an interesting martial art. It is a great art. It has its advantages. It has its limitations too IMO. The limitation to me is based upon it having some acrobatic moves in it. A person like myself that has some injuries might not be able to do the more acrobatic movements. This is just my opinion. However, if I were still young and no injuries and knew of a school near me I would have tried it myself. The big advantage of it is the deception or trickery used in it. They are great at disguising their intent. This might pose a problem because none of us and I'm especially incuding myself in this do know what to expect from them or when their strikes or kicks are coming. We know what boxers, wrestlers, untrained fighters and even other martial artist will do in a fight, We can recognize and easily counter. But we don't see many that train in Capoiera. We don't practice how to counter what they are doing. Some may even be mesmerized by a flip or cart wheel. Most will take it for granted as being silly until they have been kicked and taken to the ground by them.
Capoiera has been proven many times as being a great art. People today think of being proven as combat in the ring, cage, etc. This art has had some success there, but the real proving ground of the art was how the slave that knew it and the escaped slaves used it to remain free and to help free others. It is documented how hard it was to capture or fight against these warriors because of their unusual fighting style. Another proof of it effectiveness is that even after slavery was ended they had to outlaw the practice of Capoiera. Why? Because once slavery was abolished the newly freed slaves had no work to do or income. So many turned to other ways of earning an income that was illegal. They became body guards and hit-men for the war lords and other criminals.
I'm with Daniel in that I wouldn't really call Capoeira "proven" so much. Occasionally, in MMA, you'll see a guy with a Capoeira background pull off a move or two, but they also tend to have training in other martial arts (Muay Thai and BJJ, typically).
At any rate, to your question, of the research I've done into Capoeira, I don't think it typically has forms, but I wouldn't be surprised if some schools have adopted them. They're not a bad training method when used correctly, but more than that, I think the aesthetics of Capoeira lends itself to solo forms. So I can't recall ever hearing of a school having forms, but that doesn't mean that none of them do.
I'm not sure if capoeira has been proven to work over and over again like Sara suggests. As far as I understand, capoeira fighters used to enter vale tudo fights (no-holds bar fights) in Brazil and they didn't do very well compared to other styles. I personally don't think capoeira techniques like dodging an incoming kick with a cartwheel is a smart idea (side stepping the kick is just so much faster). I've seen some of their self defense techniques and it's just not as practical as what other styles offer.
With that said, Capoiera will improve your athletic ability, rhythm, core strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, leg strength, and your hip power which are all huge pluses for any other martial arts training. Plus it looks like a lot of fun. You should try it.
why waste time researching a useless martial art? It's sad that people spent decades learning to be good at something that sucks.
