CAPOEIRA CLASSES • CAPOEIRA LUANDA • CAPOEIRA SCHOOL • TIBACAPOEIRA

Capoeira is an African-Brazilian martial art that incorporates acrobatics, dance, music, and songs in a rhythmic dialogue of body, mind, and spirit. It is a communal game in which two opponents play each other inside the roda (a circle), formed by the other players who create rhythm for the game by clapping, singing and playing the berimbaus (African traditional instruments, considered the soul of Capoeira) and other key instruments. The two opponents compete with each other using capoeira movements, camouflaging the self defense kicks and moves with playful acrobatics and dance-like moves spontaneously creating strategy to fool their partner and catch them off guard.

Capoeira Luanda was born from the union of capoeiristas from different times and experiences, with the effective participation of all professors, instructors and graduates of Mestre Jelon. Capoeira Luanda was founded on April 6th, 2007, after a long process of research and study under the direction and guidance of Mestre Jelon.

Tiba Vieira has practiced the art of capoeira for over fifteen years and currently holds the rank of Professor. He began his training with Mestre Jelon Vieira and continues his practice under the supervision of Mestre Jelon. Since moving to the United State from Brazil in 1997, Professor Tiba has taught classes for children and adults at various venues in New York City including the Training Academy, Saint Anthony's School, Educational Alliance, Broadway Dance Center and the Alvin Ailey School. He has also taught at Bard College, Annadale-on-Hudson, NY; Dance Connecticut, Hartford, CT; the Cleo Parker Robinson Summer Festival, Denver, CO; Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH; and Capoeira Luanda, Istanbul, Turkey. He has also performed regularly throughout the United States and internationally in Pusan, South Korea at the Pusan Film Festival, in Tokyo and Toronto as well.

In addition, Mr. Vieira has appeared in TNT's "Martial Artists of the 20th Century," the New York Film Academy's "Fascinado Pela Capoeira," the PBS serie's "Egg: The Arts Show," GQ Magazine, Free Magazine, LXTV/NBC "Spot light of the week", Gettyimages, and a Subway Restaurant commercial. He also holds a BFA degree in Electronic Design and Multimedia.

Mestre Jelon Vieira is the Founder and Artistic Director of Capoeira Foundation and DanceBrazil. He has earned much acclaim as a broadly talented choreographer, and a world renowned master and teacher of capoeira. Born in Santo Amaro da Purificação, Bahia, a state in northern Brazil, Mr. Vieira studied capoeira with the famous Mestres Bimba, Eziquiel, and Bobo, Afro-Brazilian dance at Escola de ballet Teatro Castro Alves in Salvador, Bahia, modern dance with James Truite, Thelma Hill, Fred Benjamin, and ballet with Don Farnsworth.

Since his arrival in the US in 1975, Mr. Vieira has catalyzed the growing interest in and understanding of Brazilian culture while simultaneously developing his own choreographic style that blends tradition Afro-Brazilian dance and North American modern dance. In 1976 he formed the Capoeiras of Bahia with Loremil Machado. Then, in 1977, Mr. Vieira founded DanceBrazil, and for the last 20 years has guided the company through breathtaking performances of capoeira and Afro-Brazilian dance. Mr. Vieira and Loremil Machado introduced capoeira to the United States nearly thirty years ago.

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. 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.

Mr. Vieira was recently awarded a 2008 NEA National Heritage Fellowship. This award, the nation's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts, recognizes Mr. Vieira for his artistic excellence and contributions to America's cultural heritage.

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