Professora Coruja

Professora Coruja (Renée Rinaldi) was first introduced to capoeira while studying abroad in Sao Paulo, Brazil. What originally started as an interesting topic of research, soon became a lifestyle. After graduating from college, Professora Coruja moved to NYC where she started her career as a teacher and also began searching for the right place to train capoeira. After several years of training in Harlem, she met Mestre Bom Jesus and in 2007 decided to start training under his tutelage in New Rochelle.

Professora Coruja has been instrumental in the development and execution of local capoeira arts programs in under-served communities throughout NYC and Westchester County. Working closely with Mestre Bom Jesus, Professora Coruja has helped create curriculum taught in local school arts programs and has also founded several afterschool programs in Harlem and the Bronx, where she is currently an Assistant Principal for the NYC DOE. 

In 2010, after studying under the tutelage of Mestre Bom Jesus for 5 years, he honored her with a blue cord and  the rank of Graduada. In the summer of 2013, she opened The Capoeira Center, in Downtown New Rochelle, where she currently teaches classes on the Brazilian martial art of Capoeira to adults and children of all ages.

In 2014, Mestre Bom Jesus officially retired from capoeira. It was around the same time that Professora Coruja met several teachers from Capoeira Luanda.  These teachers provided her not only with a place to train during what was a huge transition in her capoeira journey, but also with the friendship, encouragement and support that she needed to continue on her path.

In January of 2015, Professora Coruja met Mestre Chuvisco at a workshop, where he told her she was welcome to her stop by his class anytime. A few weeks later, she took him up on that offer and stopped by his Chelsea studio.  From the very first class, Mestre Chuvisco made her feel welcome and pushed her both mentally and physically to develop even more as a capoeirista.

In the summer of 2015, Professora Coruja made the decision to officially join Capoeira Luanda and to continue her work at The Capoeira Center under the supervision of Mestre Chuvisco, Mestre Guerreiro and Mestre Jelon.  To formalize their new partnership, Coruja and Chuvisco hosted a joint Batizado in New Rochelle and NYC in February 2016. It was at this event that Coruja was honored with the rank of green cord, Instrutora. 

In 2022, after 7 years of training under Mestre Chuvisco, Professora Coruja earned the rank of purple cord, Professora, at a batizdao in Brazil.

                                                  Capoeira Luanda

New York Capoeira Luanda is an organization that practices, teaches, and preserves the Afro-Brazilian martial art of Capoeira. Capoeira Luanda practices a style of Capoeira known as Capoeira Regional Contemporanea. This style is derived from movements and sequences developed by Mestre Bimba, as well as influences and evolutions of Capoeira from the founding Mestres of Capoeira Luanda.

Capoeira Luanda was founded on April 6th, 2007, after a long process of research and study under the direction and guidance of Mestre Jelon Vieira.          Today, Capoeira Luanda has spread internationally with centers and academies in the United States, Holland, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Peru, Colombia, Italy, and Turkey.

The root of the name Luanda is a homage to Mestre Eziquiel Martins, who founded the Grupo Luanda de Capoeira in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil in 1963. Another inspiration behind the name Luanda was meaning of the word Luanda in Yoruba language which means “the junction of the moon and the earth” and “Peace and imaginary land” in the dialect Bantu. Luanda is the capital of Angola and was one of the most important ports during the slave trade when Africans were taken to the Americas as chattel.

Luanda is one of the cities in West Africa where Africans said the last good bye for those who never returned.  It was the Africans from the slave trade that contributed to the richness of the African Culture in Brazil.

Mestre Jelon

Mestre Jelon, the founder of Capoeira Luanda, is a world-renowned master and teacher of Capoeira. Born in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, Brazil, in 1953, he started at the age of ten training with at Capoeira Angola with Mestre Emerito and later with Mestre Bobô. In 1969, he met Mestre Eziquiel with whom he studied Capoeira Regional. He also had the honor of attending classes at Mestre Bimba’s academy. In 1977, Vieira and the late Loremil Machado formed The Capoeiras of Bahia (later changed to DanceBrazil at the suggestion of the late Alvin Ailey) and became the first to bring traditional Afro-Brazilian dance and capoeira to the United States. As artistic director of The Capoeira Foundation and of DanceBrazil, Vieira has devoted more than thirty years to bringing electrifying performances of capoeira and Afro-Brazilian music and dance to audiences in the United States, Brazil, Asia, and Europe. In September 2008, the National Endowment for the Arts award Vieira a National Heritage Fellowship in recognition of his artistic excellence and his contributions to the nation’s traditional arts heritage.

Mr. Vieira teaches capoeira to people of all ages and from all walks of life in both Brazil and the United States. He has taught the soccer great Pele and American movie stars Wesley Snipes and Eddie Murphy. Although he resides in New York, Mr. Vieira spends several months a year in Brazil. One of his long term goals is to open a center for underprivileged children, using capoeira to build self-esteem and self-discipline and to begin moving these children off the streets and into the educational system and mainstream society. In the United States, Mr. Vieira has taught in many residency workshops and has been a guest instructor at Yale University’s African-American Studies Department since 1982. He has also taught at many other universities and colleges including Oberlin College, Columbia University, Stanford University, Duke University, and the University of Nebraska. He has worked with several American dance companies including Dance Theater of Harlem and Alvin Ailey Dance Theater. He has also worked closely with other cultural institutes in the United States such as the Caribbean Cultural Center in New York and the Carver Community Cultural Center in San Antonio, Texas.

In 1993, after a decade of collaboration between DanceBrazil and the Carver Cultural Community Center, Mr. Vieira and Carver Center Director Jo Long decided to create Ilê Bahia de San Antonio, the House of African-Brazilian Arts. The organization was incorporated in 1993 to establish a professional level instruction and training center in the African-Brazilian performing arts. Special emphasis is placed on training at-risk, minority youth in a positive and culturally affirming activity. When at home in Brazil, he teaches children and young adults in his home community of Boca do Rio, using Capoeira to build self-esteem, instill self-discipline and to raise social consciousness while helping his students become a vital part of their own community.

Mestre Guerreiro

Mestre Chuvisco

Mestre Chuvisco was born in Goiania, GO, Brazil where he started his Capoeira training at the age of eight with Mestre Guerreiro in Grupo Candeias. When he was 15, he left his future lucrative career as a soccer player to pursue his creative endeavors and life-long passion for Capoeira. Today, Mr. Silva studies Capoeira with Mestre Jelon and holds the rank of mestre in Capoeira Luanda. Mr. Silva has been a Capoeira guest teacher at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Federal University of Goiás and Colegio Avila among others in Brazil. Internationally he has guest taught in Spain, France, Holland, Prague Czech Republic, Italy, Australia, Colombia and Germany. In the United States he also guest taught at Alvin Ailey Extension, Summer Stage, KIPP-AMP, Latin American Performance Program in NY; HoggetowneMiddle Charter School, Gainesville, FL, and in many Public Schools in New York City. He has won 1st Price in several Capoeira Tournaments in Brazil and in the United States. 

Has appeared in many magazines including Revista Capoeira the most important Capoeira magazine in Brazil. Mr. Silva was a special guest for UNICEF at the Exchange Program in Trinidad, National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Awards as well as Project Exchange in Bahamas and many Capoeira events throughout the United States. Mr. Silva worked forDanceBrazil and toured extensively for 9 years, besides his duty as a performer, he was responsible for all out reach program and to introduce and maintain Capoeira awareness throughout communities and Public School during the company’s touring. Also he has participated in the production of the DVD Cid D Kid "Slave To The Beat", and in many percussion ensemble as a berimbau (Afro-Brazilian Instrument used in Capoeira) player and recorded on several artists projects. He has been a guest performer internationally at festivals and private community venues. In 2009 he was special guest at Vail Dance Festival in Vail, CO, and Houston Brazilian Festival, Houston, TX; and in DanceAfrica in Denver, CO.

Currently, Mr. Silva works as Professor for TischDrama Department at New York University.

Capoeira

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that was created by African peoples in Brazil roughly 500 years ago. Part dance, part fight, part acrobatics, it combines elements of numerous African cultures into a beautiful expression of art.

Oral tradition tells us that it was practiced in secrecy during the days of slavery, and that is was deadly when used to fight the oppression of slave owners. A blend of martial arts and dances from diverse African cultures, capoeira was practiced as a hidden, playful game to fool the slave owners and fight oppression.

Today, capoeira is recognized as a “performance art” and is played as a game. Often characterized by its deceptive kicks, sweeps, trip-em-ups, head butts, elbow and knee strikes, capoeira, while physically demanding, is much more than a physical activity. When playing capoeira, one’s wits and creativity are just as important as one’s physical abilities. 

At the start of each game, two players enter a circle of onlookers and participants, known as a roda. At the head of the roda are musicians, fellow Capoeira players, who play instruments to this art. The mestre , or teacher, leads the onlookers and fellow players in songs that reflect the type of games being played within the roda and about the history of the art.

Learning Capoeira is not only a great way to get in to shape, it is also a unique opportunity to be immersed in a complex art form, to learn more out about Brazil and Africa, to learn to play instruments, sing songs in Portuguese and much much more!

Come try capoeira today!