How the jump rope got its rhythm | Small Thing Big Idea, a TED series

Translator: Krystian Aparta Reviewer: Camille Martínez

Tradutor: Maurício Kakuei Tanaka Revisor: Maricene Crus

If you do it right, it should sound like:

Se você fizer direito, deve soar assim:

TICK-tat, TICK-tat, TICK-tat, TICK-tat, TICK-tat, TICK-tat.

TIC-tat, TIC-tat, TIC-tat, TIC-tat, TIC-tat, TIC-tat.

If you do it wrong, it sounds like:

Se fizer errado, vai soar assim:

Tick-TAT, tick-TAT, tick-TAT.

tic-TAT, tic-TAT, tic-TAT.

[Small thing. Big idea.]

[Pequena coisa. Grande ideia.]

[Kyra Gaunt on the Jump Rope]

[Kyra Gaunt fala sobre a corda de pular]

The jump rope is such a simple object.

A corda de pular é um objeto muito simples.

It can be made out of rope, a clothesline, twine.

Pode ser feita de sisal, de fio de varal, de barbante.

It has, like, a twirl on it. (Laughs)

Fica assim... torcida.

I'm not sure how to describe that.

Não sei como descrevê-la.

What's important is that it has a certain weight,

O importante é que tenha um certo peso e faça esse som de chicote.

and that they have that kind of whip sound.

It's not clear what the origin of the jump rope is.

Não está claro qual é a origem da corda de pular.

There's some evidence that it began in ancient Egypt, Phoenicia,

Há evidências de que se originou no antigo Egito, ou na Fenícia,

and then it most likely traveled to North America with Dutch settlers.

e que, provavelmente, viajou para a América do Norte com colonos holandeses.

The rope became a big thing when women's clothes became more fitted

A corda tornou-se popular

quando a roupa feminina ficou mais ajustada

and the pantaloon came into being.

e surgiram as pantalonas.

And so, girls were able to jump rope

Assim, as meninas conseguiam pular corda

because their skirts wouldn't catch the ropes.

porque suas saias não se enredavam nas cordas.

Governesses used it to train their wards to jump rope.

As governantas a usavam para ensinar as crianças a pular corda.

Even formerly enslaved African children in the antebellum South

Até as crianças africanas escravizadas no Sul, antes da guerra,

jumped rope, too.

pulavam corda também.

In the 1950s, in Harlem, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens,

Na década de 1950, no Harlem, Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens,

you could see on the sidewalk, lots of girls playing with ropes.

podia-se ver muitas meninas brincando com cordas na calçada.

Sometimes they would take two ropes and turn them as a single rope together,

Às vezes, elas usavam duas cordas e as batiam juntas como uma única corda,

but you could separate them and turn them in like an eggbeater on each other.

mas podiam separá-las e batê-las uma sobre a outra, como uma batedeira.

The skipping rope was like a steady timeline --

A corda de pular marcava o tempo de modo constante...

tick, tick, tick, tick --

tic, tic, tic, tic...

upon which you can add rhymes and rhythms and chants.

sobre o qual se podiam incluir rimas, ritmos e cantos.

Those ropes created a space

Essas cordas criavam um espaço

where we were able to contribute to something

em que podíamos contribuir com algo muito maior do que o bairro.

that was far greater than the neighborhood.

Double Dutch jump rope remains a powerful symbol of culture and identity

O "Double Dutch" continua sendo

um poderoso símbolo de cultura e identidade para as mulheres negras.

for black women.

Back from the 1950s to the 1970s,

Entre as décadas de 1950 e 70, as meninas não deviam praticar esportes.

girls weren't supposed to play sports.

Boys played baseball, basketball and football,

Os meninos jogavam beisebol, basquete e futebol americano,

and girls weren't allowed.

e as meninas não podiam.

A lot has changed, but in that era,

Muita coisa mudou, mas, naquela época, as meninas dominavam o playground.

girls would rule the playground.

They'd make sure that boys weren't a part of that.

Asseguravam que os meninos não participassem.

Era o espaço delas, do poder feminino, onde elas podiam brilhar.

It's their space, it's a girl-power space.

It's where they get to shine.

But I also think it's for boys,

Mas também acho que era para os meninos, porque eles ouviam os cantos,

because boys overheard those,

which is why, I think, so many hip-hop artists

e, por isso, creio que tantos artistas de hip-hop

sampled from things that they heard in black girls' game songs.

sampleavam de coisas que ouviam em cantos de meninas negras.

(Chanting) ... cold, thick shake, act like you know how to flip,

♪ ... lanche, fritas, milk-shake, mostre que sabe girar ♪

Filet-O-Fish, Quarter Pounder, french fries, ice cold, thick shake,

♪ Lanche, fritas, milk-shake, mostre que sabe pular ♪

act like you know how to jump.

Why "Country Grammar" by Nelly became a Grammy Award-winning single

A música "Country Grammar", de Nelly, ganhou o Grammy

was because people already knew

porque as pessoas já a conheciam:

"We're going down down baby your street in a Range Rover ... "

♪ Vamos, vamos, menina, pela rua em uma Range Rover...♪

That's the beginning of "Down down, baby, down down the roller coaster,

É o início de "Vamos, vamos, menina, vamos, vamos pela montanha-russa,

sweet, sweet baby, I'll never let you go."

amor de menina, nunca te deixarei ir".

All people who grew up in any black urban community

Todos que cresceram em qualquer comunidade urbana negra

would know that music.

conheciam essa música.

And so, it was a ready-made hit.

Já era um sucesso.

The Double Dutch rope playing helped maintain these songs

A brincadeira de corda Double Dutch ajudou a preservar essas músicas,

and helped maintain the chants and the gestures that go along with it,

os cânticos e os gestos que a acompanhavam,

which is very natural to what I call "kinetic orality" --

e era algo muito natural ao que chamo de "oralidade cinética",

word of mouth and word of body.

uma linguagem oral e corporal,

It's the thing that gets passed down over generations.

transmitida por gerações.

In some ways, the rope is the thing that helps carry it.

De certa forma, a corda ajuda a transmitir isso.

You need some object to carry memory through.

Precisamos de algum objeto para transmitir a memória.

So, a jump rope, you can use it for all different kinds of things.

A corda de pular pode ser usada para muitas coisas diferentes.

It crosses cultures.

Ela atravessa culturas.

And I think it lasted because people need to move.

Creio que perdurou no tempo porque as pessoas precisavam se mexer.

And I think sometimes the simplest objects can make the most creative uses.

Às vezes, os objetos mais simples podem ter os usos mais criativos.