Batizado e Troca de Cordoes

Our 2nd annual Batizado e Troca de Cordoes was an amazing event!!!

We would like to express our deep apreciation and gratitude to all of our invited guests. The energy was fantastic and we were honored to be able to train under so many respected people in the world of Capoeira.

To the Capoeiristas that travelled from near and far to make this event...Thank you so much!! Our event wouldn't have been the same without your energy!!

Please take a look at our Media page for pictures from the event!!

Thank you to all of our sponsors for the event. We look forward to continuing our relationships with you and appreciate your interest in enriching our community by supporting our unique art form.

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Capoeira Mandinga

Capoeira Mandinga has existed since 1984, when Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha was the third person to arrive in the California Bay Area and began teaching classes. Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha started it under the name of Senzala Grande (The name was changed in 1995). Capoeira Mandinga also has a life as a nonprofit organization called the Capoeira Institute. The group is affiliated with many other schools and performing groups around the country and around the world.

Contra Mestre Carcará

Contra Mestre Carcará was first exposed to capoeira through, the 20th Century Fox film, Only The Strong. From then on he began to research and search out anything he could on capoeira. During college, he stumbled upon a group of people training capoeira, led by Gato Pardo, at Buffalo State College. In the first month of taking classes he attended his first workshop in Detroit, Michigan. Here he met Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha and found that he was part of a much larger family. Within the first year of classes he started to help instruct and eventually leading the Buffalo group. It was when Gato Pardo had to leave for personal commitments that the group was instructed by Carcará and Falcão (the Buffalo, New York group is currently led by Falcão). Under the supvision of Mestre Marcelo, Carcará continued to teach and would go on to teach classes in Wilmington, North Carolina before moving to Oakland, California. There he trained directly under Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha. Within California he instructed adult classes at University of California Berkeley and Pixar Animation Studios (Emeryville). He also taught kid classes for OASES (Oakland Asian Students Education Services) at Lincoln Elementary School (Chinatown, Oakland). Upon his return to the Western New York area he met Martin Fischer, Greg Hollar, Rashid Homti and Mike Stefani all whom resided in Rochester, NY. After talking with them Carcará traveled to the Rochester area and would eventually start teaching there; the official beginning of Capoeira Mandinga Rochester is October 1st, 2004. In July of 2005, just after the groups premier Batizado in June, Contra Mestre Carcará made Rochester his new home. He currently teaches at Academia com Expressao, as well as The University of Rochester.

Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha

Mestre MarceloPereira was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He started playing (dancing, entertaining, fighting) capoeira on the streets and was later referred to one of the most famous masters, Mestre Suassuna (Cordão de Ouro). He opened his own school, Associação de Capoeira Senzala Grande in 1979, and in 1984 came to the United States to perform and teach. He then founded the Capoeira Institute of the Bay Area - California, and Marcelo Pereira & Brazil Dance Revue.

Mestre Marcelo's Capoeira Institute of the California Bay Area is an institution that promotes shows, workshops and special seminars with different capoeira masters. It also offers research for people that are interested in studying the history and philosophy of capoeira. Today, his work reflects an important aspect of capoeira as it has been diffused throughout the United States.