ABOUT CAPOEIRA ARUANDA
Capoeira is often divided into the Angola tradition that traces its lineage to Mestre Pastinha, and the Regional lineage traced to Mestre Bimba. The art itself is older than these two lines, but both these masters were responsible in different ways for garnering respect for the art. Today many rhythms have evolved, along with different modalities of play. The word Aruanda is a mutation of the place-name Luanda, a place African slaves were stolen from and hoped one day to return to. In Capoeira songs, Aruanda has come to be associated with a sense of freedom that would come with returning home. Mestre Borracha has chosen Aruanda as the name for his Capoeira group because of his desire for his students to capture this sense of freedom in their game, and to be versatile and adaptable jogadores (players).
MESTRE BOA GENTE
Padrinho of Capoeira Aruanda
Mestre Boa Gente (born: Vivaldo Conceição Rodrigues) was born in 1945, in Ibicarai, in the interior of Bahia, Brazil
Capoeira Angola captured his heart and soul in 1956 in Ilhéus after watching teachers João Grande, João Pequeno and Antônio Cabeceiro, among others, play capoeira during the celebration of St. Sebastian, patron saint of the city. There he began his journey with mestre Antônio Cabeceiro, on the streets of Ilhéus. He learnt capoeira in the same manner with which the slaves learnt to play in “capoeiras” (cleared areas in the jungle), by watching others and applying what he saw in the roda, because at that time there were no Capoeira schools in Ilhéus. Then, by virtue of fate, he went to Salvador. Finding his brother Dominguinhos, he trained at the “Escola Baiana de Capoeira Angola “ (Capoeira Angola School of Bahia) with Mestre Gato for several years.
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When Valdemar Santana, the “Black Leopard” (Leopardo Negro), Brazilian champion of MMA (wrestling) at the time, visited the Escola Baiana de Capoeira Angola, The “Black Leopard” was so impressed by the student Boa Gente, he invited him to join his MMA academy. As always, an engaging and dedicated student, Boa Gente became the MMA champion of Bahia in 1974. In 1972, when Boa Gente attended a presentation of the “Sons of Oba” in Casa de Pedra, where he trained Capoeira, he was invited by Professor Lee to train Korean Karate. Along with Professor Lee, Boa Gente founded the Tae kwon-do Association of Bahia, and he continued to train there for some time.
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Part of Boa Gente’s training of MMA included visiting other gyms and academies. When Boa Gente went to train at the Academy of Mestre Bimba, who had gone to Goiania, mestre Vermelho 27 had taken over the training at the academy, providing the hard-training that Boa Gente needed. After this visit he was invited by mestre Vermelho 27 to train with him and from there Mestre Boa Gente went on to found the “Associação de Capoeira Mestre Boa Gente “ (Association of Capoeira Mestre Boa Gente) in 1981.
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Thereafter Mestre Boa Gente devoted his life to social work in “Vale das Pedrinhas”, “Nordeste de Amaralina”, Santa Cruz and about 17 years of teaching at the College of São Paulo, one of the most respected institutions in the State of Bahia. He has taught workshops, courses and lectures throughout Brazil, the United States (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas), Europe (Lisbon, Portugal) and Australia, and has become one of the pioneers in teaching Capoeira to children and adolescents in schools to aid learning development.
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Today, Mestre Boa Gente still teaches and supervises classes daily in the area called “Vale das Pedrinhas“.
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MESTRE BORRACHA
Founder of Capoeira Aruanda
Mestre Borracha is the master of our capoeira Aruanda school. He was born in Acre, Brazil. From a young age he has dedicated his life to Capoeira. In 1992 Borracha became widely recognised when he was the first Capoeirista to perform a double back somersault without the aid of a sprung floor or gym mats. In 1997 Borracha left his homeland, bound for Sydney Australia. as a teacher with Grupo Capoeira Brasil. In 2005, Borracha & his associates established a new Capoeira group Capoeiracre, named after the Brazilian state in which he was born and raised. In 2007 he changed the name of the group to Capoeira Aruanda, and in 2015 Borracha was awarded his Master's belt by Mestre Boa Gente. Today Mestre Borracha leads an organisation that stretches across Australia, Germany, and Brazil.