I would say that I am a capoeirista with a special attention to the musical, relational and the communicative aspects of the art. There is an indisputable need for arenas of participation within various facets of social experience. Capoeira offers such an arena and enables consciousness related to the importance of participation and community. This has always been a central part of my practice. Not only promoting health and well being through integration and inclusion of the participants, but also attending my own personal needs in life.

###Why Grupo União na Capoeira:

Well, there was no capoeira in my city when we started so it wasn´t really any alternative. Capoeira found us through the group “Capoeira na Neve” in Oslo, led by Instrutor (at the time) Torcha with the support of Mestre Umoi.

The philosophy of Mestre Umoi and concept of Grupo União na Capoeira has shaped me into the person I am today and is also the reason I stay.

Though I enter any roda, my capoeira has moved closer to Capoeira Angola during the last decade. This has influenced me a lot in the path of finding my own expression in both the game and the musical. With good help from all the masters in the group and consulting of my master, Mestre Umoi, this has also influenced the way I teach and given me a new sense of security. I have found this to resonate well with the ideals of Grupo União na Capoeira and my master’s philosophy and I feel so privileged to be a part of a group with so much diversity and freedom of expression.

I attended a workshop in 1998 led by Instrutor Torcha (now Professor) that sparked a small group of us to open a branch of “Capoeira na Neve” in Trondheim. I had a leading role in developing the group together with Boneca, Sorriso, Palma, Troclodita and others that are no longer in the group.

Followed the group in becoming an official part of Grupo União na Capoeira when Mestre Maclau moved to Oslo.

In 2003 I decided to move to Sobradinho in Brazil, to learn more about the culture, the language and to go deeper in my capoeira practice. I stayed for 1.5 years, training, giving capoeira classes in schools for children and working for João Grilo, learning how to make instruments.

In 2005 I decided to move to Bergen and left Boneca alone with the main responsibility of the group.

In 2006 I opened a new branch of the group in Bergen together with Sorriso.