Schedule:
Tuesday: 1:00 to 3:00pm
Wednesday: 1:00 to 3:00pm
For more info you can email us.

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Teaching a class at Porto da Barra beach, Salvador

My first experience with capoeira started in New York, NY when I was about 17. I was introduced to Jelon Viera by my gym teacher and basketball coach. It was their goal to redirect my energy into a more positive activity.  I was in a gang (really we were just a group of kids who started trouble) and we were infamous for cutting classes and sometimes breaking windows. I was already into hip hop dancing and had been in the martial arts since childhood.  I was training in Karate and Ju-jitsu also.

The first class was intriguing. Although I didn´t understand the movements, I knew the benefit of being a moving target in a fight.  I continued to take Jelon’s class because it was unique and free.  Also, I believe it was a requirement to continue playing basketball.  One thing that I definitely remember was that Jelon was very thorough and paid attention to detail. That was in 1997 and was my first experience with capoeira.  Then after that Jelon did as he does so well and disappeared.

That little bit of time was all that I needed. I had found something that made my spirit burn with desire and passion. Everything from the history, to the music, even the superhero type movements that capoeiristas tend to imagine and force their bodies to perform.  However after Jelon left I didn´t have a home yet.  Some time went by, but I continued to work on my basics.  Ginga, Ginga, and more Ginga.

After going to college in Indiana I returned to New York.  I don´t remember how or when but I ran into my mother figure in capoeira, Edna Lima. This woman was and is amazing.  Always smiling even when she is hitting you with a martelo kick to your face. She was so warm and caring.  She was the one that would help shape me as a capoeirista.  I graduated to a raw/yellow cord at my first batizado. Shortly after that, I was on my way back to college, this time to Alabama A&M University.

Just before starting the school year I went to Rio de Janeiro with Edna for the Jogos Mundias put on by grupo Capoeira Abada.  Man what an experience.  It was amazing…the acrobatics, the rodas, the energy, and most of all the Iuna (a rhythm in capoeira that calls for a very open game with lots of powerful beautiful moves done smoothly with grace) games. It was intense.

Even though I saw all of this I still wasn´t all the way convinced.  Why was I training capoeira?

That year I attended Alabama A&M University. I got to know many new people.  However, it was the capoeiristas that made the most impact on me. We were different than everyone else. We didn´t subscribe to the normal.  Milandro, Tank (verdade), Chris (knavalha aka Blade), and Rasta from Tennessee were the core of what capoeira was in Alabama at that time.  They were filled with they same axé that fills every real capoeirista’s heart.  We traveled as far as St. Louis representing capoeira.  It was great.  At the end of that year I was able to enter in and achieve a student exchange program that would allow me to travel to California, so the next year would mean yet another new beginning.

This would one more summer. Back in New York between Alabama and California I would encounter many obstacles and do some things that could´ve been extremely detrimental to my life, but, God had other ideas.  After a near death experience and an almost attempted suicide I would be placed on a spiritual journey that was directly involved with Brazil and Capoeira.  Two weeks after my attempted self-imposed demise I was miraculously lifted to and left in California attending Cal State University, Los Angeles.

Once in Los Angeles, I was able to find two Capoeira schools: California Capoeira Batuque and Grupo Capoeira Brasil.  I spent some time visiting both groups. I came to the headquarters of Capoeira Basil and met mestre Boneco.  He was a normal guy like everyone else, except in much better shape than most people.  He was nice and had a sparkle in his eye that showed that he loved what he was doing.  All that was great, but it wasn´t until I saw how he interacted with his three children that I decided that this was where I wanted to be.  I figured that if he was able to show that much care for his sons and he dedicated only a fraction of that to Capoeira, then he was a great teacher and a real master.

Now you all know the reason I am part of this group. I wrote this to show that there are various reasons why people take the plunge into the world of capoeira.  Sometimes, however, they can be a minor detail that no one notices or a huge factor that is extremely obvious to all.  Whatever your reason, make sure that it is true to who you are. If you do, you will never go wrong or regret your choice.

Peace and muito axé for all.