Our Mission

Capoeira Social Project (CSP) is an educational non-profit organization that provides martial, performing, visual and linguistic arts programing through the lens of capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art, and movement form.  From the beginning our mission has been to provide a program for underprivileged and marginalized children (specifically ages 7 – 18) by using a blend of creativity, education, and self-expression, to enthusiastically empower and educate.

We are located in Baltimore, Maryland with extended partners in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais Brazil. Capoeira is the foundation of our program as we utilize the unique origins of the Afro-Brazilian martial arts disguised as dance combined with acrobatics and music to train our students, and to ground the instruction of our other programming.

We teach the historical, philosophical, lyrical, and cultural significance of all the arts we teach. While learning Capoeira, Coco, and other movement and music styles students will simultaneously learn the language of Brazilian Portuguese through the exposure of song lyrics. Participants also learn how to design, construct and play instruments, as well as enhance their artistic knowledge and capabilities with our multitude of innovative and creative activities.

The Capoeira Social Project also offers extra-curricular activities, including arts, tutoring in math, science, reading and writing, as we believe an emphasis on strong educational support leads to a path of accountability, determination and excellence. Our training empowers youth to be intelligent and resourceful, strong and agile, and most importantly self-aware and self-confident. By acquiring these vital qualities students have an opportunity to succeed in life.

Capoeira Social Project believes in education for body, mind, and life.

And all of this is done through the media of capoeira!

BODY

Education for the body, through capoeira movements and maculele, helps students stay in shape. Through the training of the martial art itself, participants gain strength, flexibility, balance, coordination, rhythm, self-awareness, and self-confidence.

Capoeira is first and foremost, expressive! Students are given every possible tool to learn how to communicate with their bodies and express themselves in every aspect. Students will find a new level of movement regardless of their age, background, or previous experience.

MIND

Education for the mind, through capoeira music and the Portuguese language, helps students become bilingual (Bilingualism has shown to improve cognition and standardized test scores, as well as wards off dementia). Through songs and presentations, students also learn about Brazilian history through the history of capoeira which has its roots in slavery and abolition. Brazilian folk heroes and their American counterparts are covered. Mathematics is also a standard topic in class. It is used to describe the geometry and physics of movements.

​LIFE

​Education for life is a broad topic covered in classes. Capoeira is a very philosophical as most martial arts. Mestre Pastinha once said “A capoeira é tudo que a boca come” which translates to “Capoeira is everything that the mouth eats.” This can be interpreted in many ways, but CSP chooses to see this as “capoeira can be found in everything.” Dance or fight, life is full of decisions.
Through workshops on how to make the musical berimbau, pandeiro, and caxixi instruments, students learn to work with their hands. For berimbaus and caxixis they also learn about agricultural skills needed to grow the materials. Students learn how to think about and look at items to find a different purpose, eg: for caxixis and pandeiros, students learn how to up-cycle 2L soda bottles. All of these skills can be transferred to future occupational areas.
Capoeira Social Project is a registered tax-deductible non-profit organization under the IRS Section 501(c)(3) guidelines. CSP teaches performing and visual arts through the lens of capoeira in Baltimore, MD USA and Belo Horizonte, MG Brazil