I was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1979.  I resided in Brazil until the age of thirteen when I was invited by an uncle to study abroad.  In 1993, I left my native country and moved to The U.S., in Texas .  Away from home and forced to grow into an adult life while still a teenager brought me into a world of hardship.

Over the years, I accumulated different values through struggles of forced work, cold, hunger, loneliness, and lack of freedom.  However, I brought myself into college, time when I broke free into the world.

For the first time, the word Capoeira just appeared in my mind.  I didn't know what is was.  Whether it was Brazilian or African.  I knew it was a fight I had once heard of while a child in Brazil .  It just came to my mind.  I hopped into the computer and began my search on the net.  While reading about Capoeira and Brazilian slavery, I began to associate the values and struggles I had gone through with those of slaves.  Although, of course, their situations were much more harsh  than mine.  I began to identify myself with this Capoeira and read everything I could reach about it.  I began looking for Capoeira teachers where I lived.  Through references of many teachers spread throughout the country, I found someone in South Dallas -- only 45 minutes away!  That was my first experience.  But what I saw was not quite it.  In 2001, I decided to move to Brazil.

Back home, I found I had lost my own native language.  I knew but lose words.  And I found capoeira classes all over, at every athletic center.  However, I did meet a master, Mestre Celso.  He invited my to come to one of his "rodas".  There, as soon as I stepped into the roda (against my will -- I had never been in one before), I was blown out of the room into the patio through a door, as I was caught by a "pisao."  As I looked up, I found myself within the school of Capoeira I dreamed of.

"This is the Capoeira I want to learn" I remember thinking as I got myself back on my feet.  Mestre Celso taught me much more than Capoeira  -- or should I say, he taught me how to look at everything through Capoeira.  Capoeira became not only a sport or martial art, but a philosophy.  Mestre Celso's Capoeira, unlike most others, was a complete one.

2004: I return to the U.S. , where I intend to finish my college degree and help grow the Capoeira school I am part of.