ABADÁ-Capoeira San Francisco
Afro-Brazilian capoeira
ABADÁ-Capoeira San Francisco (ACSF) works to preserve, develop, and share the martial art of capoeira, and to use capoeira to ignite positive change in individuals and in communities. Through multi-faceted programs, ACSF addresses prominent social issues including obesity, youth violence, racial and gender stereotyping, and the real cultural and economic inequalities to accessing quality physical and cultural training programs. Founded in 1991, by master capoeira artist Márcia Treidler, ACSF offers professional instruction and performance of capoeira at its Mission-based Brazilian Arts Center, and at over 30 partnering sites throughout the Bay Area and continues in its mission to improve the vitality of the Bay Area through accessible, high-quality arts programming.
As a grantee of ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program in 2012, ACSF received support for their Batizado 2012 Capoeira Congresso, a five-day intergenerational event which will provide the community a venue to come together with high-level master practitioners from Brazil for workshops, small group advanced trainings, lectures, and discussions. A traditional initiation and graduation ceremony called a batizado will advance Capoeira practitioners to the next level. The occasion will also mark the organization’s 20th year. Under the direction of Maestranda Marcia Treidler, the conference theme is “reverence,” focusing on honoring, learning about, and celebrating the unique traditions that characterize and sustain capoeira. The event will take in San Francisco, November 5-10, 2012.
In 2008, ACSF received a grant from ACTA’s Living Cultures Grants Program for their The Spirit of Brazil Festival which commemorated Marcia Treidler’s 25th anniversary in the art of capoeira and the organization’s 15th anniversary. Grant funds supported intergenerational workshops in capoeira movement and music with master artists from Brazil and a four-part lecture/symposium series presented on the rituals instrumental to capoeira.
In 2008, a contract from ACTA’s Traditional Arts Development Program hired consultant Steven C. Christiano to facilitate ACSF’s strategic planning process.
In 2006, a Living Cultures Grants Program grant helped ACSF present the cultural exchange festival, Danças dos Guerreiros (Dances of the Warriors), which gathered master Brazilian artists together with community leaders, students, performers, and audience members to share workshops, conversation, and performances in the traditional art forms of capoeria, maculele and jongo.
