Contra Mestre Serpente Negra

Contra Mestre Serpente is very committed to teaching Capoeira as an art form and means of personal expression. He demands respect and discipline of his students in training but he also impresses on them the importance of not taking the game too seriously. He believes that those that lose their sense of play also lose their sense of judgment and they are beaten easily.  Serpente is known for his quick serpentine movement and rapid escapes, which is why he is called Serpente (Snake).

Contra Mestre Serpente, born in Santos, in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil has been training in Capoeira for over twenty years. As a young black boy, Serpente was frustrated by the lack of opportunity that was available to him and the many temptations to help him remain in poverty. In Capoeira, he found his stability, his confidence and conviction that he could make something from his life. When his father had forbidden Serpente to study Capoeira and burned his clothes, Serpente snuck out of the house and trained sometimes as much as six hours a night. He learned it with urgency.  After just four years of study, Serpente began to teach. An apprentice after four years was rare in this era of Capoeira.  Sadly in recent years, the pressure to produce more students faster has accelerated the certification of students and diminished the quality of graduates.

During the years 1995 - 1998 Serpente was a significant contributor to the Ginga Sem Drogas (Ginga without Drugs) program in the coastal region of Sao Paulo.  The program offered Capoeira to underprivileged and poor children to enable them to use Capoeira as a creative outlet and as a substitute to crime, drugs and other poverty-related problems.At its height Serpente was teaching at twelve schools and community centers--over four hundred kids a week--throughout the Santos region. During this time, he met an American woman who was living and working in Brazil. She too was committed to learning Capoeira because she felt the tremendous stabilizing power of the art. They married and moved to Californian December 1998.

Since Serpente moved to the United States he has been busy perusing his dream to set up a Capoeira academy/Brazilian Cultural Center,which will help it become recognized as World Class martial art.  He has provided Capoeira workshops to students throughout Brazil and California,worked at summer camps in California and Ohio, and has taught at public schools in San Francisco and Columbus. Serpente has also performed in Brazilian shows and workshops in California, Boston, New Hampshire, Arizona and Florida. He has spent the last five years getting to know the very unique US community of Capoeira and the wide variety of masters, professors and students both American and Brazilian throughout the country.

*Member of FICA –(International Federation of Capoeira) and CBC (Brazilian Confederation of Capoeira)

*President of the US Capoeira Federation (USCF), the USCF is the National Organizer of Capoeira in US.

*2006-2007 Head judge at the US Open Capoeira Tournament at Santa Cruz, CA and San Francisco, CA

Coquiero

Leslie “Coqueiro” started Capoeira in 1998 with Capoeira Batuque under Mestre Amen Santo in California. She then continued training with Capoeira Batuque under Professor Gume in Milwaukee, WI. In 2002 she began training with Serpente Negra Capoeira group under Formado Esperto. She has visited Columbus, OH; Miami, FL; Campagne, IL; and Sao Paulo, Brazil where she has attended Batizados, classes, and workshops. She has been a part of many demonstrations and has instructed Capoeira to children at the Boys & Girls Club in the Cleveland area. She currently has the highest female rank in Ohio under Serpente Negra Capoeira. Leslie hopes to continue training and to be part of a Capoeira tournament in the near future. Capoeira has been a very positive influence in her life and she feels that it is important to share that positive energy with others in order to stay healthy, both mentally and physically.

Morcego

Morcego has been practicing Capoeira since the summer of 2001. He has practiced many other martial arts, including Tae Kwon Do and Jujutsu, but none have meant as much to him as Capoeira. He immediately fell in love with the unique blend of martial arts, music, acrobatics, spirituality, history, and culture. Morcego has a Master’s Degree in Education and a Bachelor of Arts in Education, specializing in English and History. He currently teaches English and History at an area high school. Morcego would like to thank Contra Mestre Serpente and Formado Esperto for showing him the beauty of Capoeira and helping him live a more fulfilling life. Morcego teaches Capoeira in Akron, Ohio.