It is only recently that a new generation of capoeiristas sought to combine Capoeira Regional and Capoeira Angola to develop a new style which embraces the modernizing innovations of the legendary Mestre Bimba without losing sight of the guiding principles and values which are embedded in the history and philosophy of the art. Standing at the forefront of this contemporary movement is Abada Capoeira.

The main focus of the Abada-Capoeira philosophy is to be found in both Mestre Bimba's Capoeira Regional style and the lessons of Capoeira Angola. It is at this junction where the evolution of capoeira lies, and where its future is discovered hidden in its past.

Abada Capoeira incorporates a multi - leveled philosophy for the development of capoeira. The philosophy includes the relentless pursuit of the technical mastery of capoeira, on both student and teaching levels; the utilization of the art of capoeira as a valuable pedagogic tool, as well as an artistic and cultural resource; and the transformation of student into teacher through the enlightenment and transfer from the student to the teacher, thus keeping the origina l value systems of the early capoeira masters, their culture and their life experiences.

Abada Capoeira seeks to promote cultural and human values based on respect, socialization and freedom. It hopes to accomplish these goals by spreading the art of capoeira in and through universities, schools, clubs, associations and diverse communities. It also hopes to emphasize the lessons inherent in its Brazilian cultural and historic roots, and by doing so, promoting social integration between people of different backgrounds and classes. While keeping sight of its social goals, Abada Capoeira also seeks to instill good character, dignity and strong personal values in its students.

We at Abada Capoeira understand that capoeira is, and always was, both an ancestral and futuristic art form. It is the living expression and embodiment of a people that fought for liberty. In this light, we believe it should be practiced withreverence, and it deserves from our part the same respect and attention it was given by its originators. We also realize that capoeira must not cease to evolve. While preserving the values involved, our work points toward the future, embracing changes and advancements, seeking to give capoeira the space and freedom it demands for it to develop to its full potential.

The art of capoeira, like the chameleon, seeks change as a way to preserve its own essence.

Abada Capoeira is a non-profit group whose main objective is to promote capoeira and Brazilian culture, and to use it as an important vehicle and example for social integration and individual growth. It's part of out philosophy to present our culture to all social groups and classes, and by doing so, we hope to keep our roots alive and flourishing.

First Contact with Capoeira

"In the interior of Bahia I always saw people doing movements with their legs, playing, but in a spontaneous form and without the berimbau. Later, Camisa Roxa went to study in Salvador. When he returned he showed us the Capoeira techniques he was learning with Mestre Bimba. These little lessons were more like games among cousins and served to increase our interest in Capoeira. Besides this, the oldest people in the region were always telling stories of Capoeiristas and their feats: one who beat three or four people at once, another who had a corpo fechado1 "(..)" In this time, all the men carried a machete in their belt. I always liked to watch the older men demonstrating their agility in handling the machetes."(..)" When you went into a respectable place, like a church for example, you removed your hat and took off your machete and left them at the entrance.

From the Estiva Ranch to Salvador

Our family lived in a small ranch called Estiva. It was in the interior of the state of Bahia, in the district of Jacobina. In Jacobina, the schools only went up to the primary level, the older students had to go Salvador in order to finish their studies. My father delayed as much as possible my going to Salvador, perhaps because he was hoping I would stay and take over the family ranch. When he passed away, the family moved to Lapinha in Salvador.

The Street Rodas and Popular Parties

"(..)" in Salvador, I liked to go to the hang out on the streets, to see, and later to participate in, street rodas. "(..)" I started playing more and more in the rodas of Mestre Valdemar, in Liberdade (Pero Vaz). "(..)" Camisa Roxa saw me early one morning playing capoeira in a roda and thought that this was dangerous thing for a twelve-year-old boy. He spoke to my mother about the dangers of the situation and she, who up until then had not allowed me to formally study capoeira because she thought it would interfere with my studies, thought it would be a good idea for me to enroll in Mestre Bimba's Capoeira academy. But what she didn't know was that once I enrolled in his academy I would spend all my time doing two things: training in the academy at night and hanging out and playing in the street rodas during the day..."

Mestre Bimba's Academy

(..)" The first time I went to Mestre Bimba's academy was with my brother. I was only visiting, at this time I still lived on the family ranch. I paid attention to everything that went on in the class. Later, my brother went to his classes and left me alone in his apartment in Salvador, I moved all the furniture out of the way and tried to repeat what I had seen. "(..)" Once I enrolled in the academy I was a dedicated student and trained with determination. I was baptized by a student called Calango and in a year, more or less, I had already reached the level formado in Mestre Bimba's Capoeira group; although this also had a lot to do with my level of proficiency in Capoeira before I entered the academy... "(..)" I learned a lot about Capoeira just from talking with Mestre Bimba. He was already an old man and couldn't physically demonstrate things"(..)" Mestre Bimba transmitted a lot of energy to us in his classes, which helped the learning process. "(..)" The layout of the academy was in the form of a square. When it was time for the roda the students would sit on the bench and Mestre Bimba would play his berimbau without any accompaniment.

Arrival in Rio

"(..)" At this time there was already a lot of talk that Mestre Bimba would go to Goiás state. My brother was training to go to on a tour with the folklore show Olodum Maré. I always went to the group's rehearsals and resolved to go along on the yearlong tour"(..)"I participated in various numbers, but mostly in the ones that had Capoeira"(..)"When I left to go on tour I already had an intuition that I wouldn't come back to live in Salvador, in the all of the cities we passed through, I would always imagine what it would be like to stay and live for a while. "(..)" In Rio de Janeiro the show was booked for three months and after that went to Europe under the name Brasil Tropical"(..)"The city of Rio captivated me; the pervasiveness of samba, the samba schools, the morros, the social and cultural life in general. "(..)"I couldn't go to Europe with the group because I had to go back to Salvador to study"(..)"the ship left for Europe with me on the docks watching it go, with only my ticket to Salvador and a little money that would pay for a few days in the hotel. I tore up my ticket and decided to take a chance on my dream of giving Capoeira lessons.

Living by Capoeira

My first student was a gaúcho2 from the city of Pelótas who had seen the Olodum Maré show in Porto Alegre. While walking in the street one day he saw a small sign indicating Capoeira lessons. Upon entering, he recognized me from the piece Furacões da Bahia"(..)"Later others joined, such as Claudio Moreno"(..)"I begin teaching Capoeira in the style of Mestre Bimba. However, I felt something was lacking; motivation, interest, I don't know, so I began to add some things to the method to make it more appropriate to the moment and to the circumstances of that time"(..)"In this time I felt very alone and isolated, at night in my room I would listen to songs that spoke of Bahia and cry. On the weekends and holidays I felt adrift and my heath began to suffer. These days were difficult to endure, so I began to give lessons on the weekends to spend less time alone.

Founding of ABADA Capoeira

"(..)"The idea for ABADA came to me shortly after I passed through this difficult period. The lack of a formal structure for classes, the need to draw up a basic lesson plan, for a place to study and teach, to debate techniques and discuss concepts, and to define rankings were all important; but I think principally the impetus was to give a family-like structure to so many people who had left behind their cities, their families, to dedicate themselves to Capoeira. Perhaps because I went through what I did, I joined other students who gave Capoeira lessons in Rio and in other states such as in Ceará, Capixaba in Espírito Santo and Linguado en Pernambuco, to found an association that in some way would give us a structure and support new Capoeiristas"(..)" The search for a name took a long time because it had to sum up what the organization was all about and at the same time it had to have a basic relationship with Capoeira.

Mestre Camisa's Bio

Mestre Camisa (José Tadeu Carneiro Cardoso ) was born in the interior of the state of Bahia, in the northeast of Brazil. He first began practicing Capoeira at the age of 7. He first began studying Capoeira at the age of seven, he was taught by his older brother Camisa Roxa, a student of Mestre Bimba. Several years later Camisa moved to Salvador to continue his education and attended Mestre Bimba’s Academy himself.

In the early 70’s Mestre Camisa, along with his brother, were part of a yearlong tour of Brazil with the folkloric dance company Olodum Maré. The troupe stayed in Rio de Janeiro for three months and then departed for a tour of Europe. Mestre Camisa, however, remained in Rio and began earning his living by teaching Capoeira.

It was during this first, somewhat difficult, period in Rio that Mestre Camisa first began to consider the need to design a formal structure for classes, to draw up a basic lesson plan, to create a place to study and teach and to debate techniques, discuss concepts and define rankings. In addition to the above, Mestre Camisa felt the need to give a family-like structure to so many people who had left behind their cities and their friends and families and moved to Rio to dedicate themselves to Capoeira.

The latter was the main impetus for the creation of a new organization that would, in 1988, become ABADÁ-Capoeira (Associação Brasileira de Apoio e Desenvolvimento da Arte-Capoeira, which is translated as : Brazilian Association for the Support and Development of the Art of Capoeira).

Since the beginning of the 80's, Mestre Camisa had been drawing on Mestre Bimba's teachings to develop his own style adding by his unique technique and methodology that improved the martial aspect of Capoeira, and put Mestre Camisa as the leading Capoeira master in the world. Since he does not have a massive body, Mestre Camisa developed a technique to neutralize his opponent with slips, takedowns, speed and efficiency in the application of the moves, blows and kicks. This technique allows him to face a bigger opponent under equal conditions.

Today, ABADÁ-Capoeira, with over 40,000 members, is the largest Capoeira association in the world. Mestre Camisa has elevated two women to the rank of Mestranda. (Only 8 people in ABADÁ hold this rank.)

Mestre Camisa is constantly researching Capoeira and improving his style. He teaches workshops and seminars and attends batizados in Brazil and throughout the world. Through ABADÁ-Capoeira, Mestre Camisa is defining a new contemporary language of Capoeira that seeks to respect and preserve the traditions and foundations of Capoeira and to follow Capoeira’s evolution throughout the world while considering all the aspects of Capoeira: as a martial art, as a playful game, as a source of rhythms and songs and as a spontaneous art form.

1. Corpo Fechado: Literally "Closed Body," oral tradition tells of Capoeiristas who, through magic, had developed their internal energy (chi in the Chinese tradition) to the point where knives or even bullets could cause no harm.

2. Gaucho: person from the south of Brazil