Capoeira Luanda is an organization that practices, teaches, and preserves the Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira. We practice a style known as Capoeira Regional Contemporânea (Regional Contemporary Capoeira). This style is derived from movements and sequences developed by Mestre (Master) Bimba, as well as the influences and advancements of capoeira adopted by the founding master of Capoeira Luanda, Mestre Jelon Vieira. Capoeira Luanda has spread internationally with centers and academies in the United States, Holland, Brazil, Germany, Spain, France, Peru, Colombia and Italy. The name "Luanda" is homage to Mestre Eziquiel Martins, who founded the Grupo Luanda de Capoeira in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil in 1963. Another inspiration behind the name Luanda was the meaning of the word luanda in the Yoruba language - the junction of the moon and the earth – as well as a peaceful and imaginary land in the Bantu dialect. Last but not least, Luanda is the capital of Angola and one of the cities in West Africa where Africans used to say their last good bye for those who never returned. This capital's ports were in fact the most used during the monstrous slave trade period, when vast numbers of Africans were brutally taken to the Americas as slaves.
Those Africans, with slave trade origins, are responsible for seeding much of the richness of Brazilian culture in general: music, dance, food, resistance and resilience, happiness, and overcoming struggles and suffering through ritual.