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ABOUT

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The Nzinga Capoeira Angola Group started in 1995 under the guidance and stewardship of Rosângela Araújo - now known as Mestra Janja. Originally from Feira de Santana, Bahia, Janja moved to São Paulo to complete her master's and doctoral thesis at the College of Education at the University of São Paulo, with a focus on Philosophy and Education. Before this time, Janja spent 15 years in the Capoeira Angola Pelourinho Group in Salvador, (GCAP) a project led by Mestre Moraes, who is a reference in the growth and dissemination of Capoeira Angola, in Brazil and in the world.

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During the 1990s, the Nzinga Group grew with the addition of Paula Barreto - now Mestra Paulinha -  who moved to São Paulo to complete her doctorate in the Department of Sociology of USP. This same year Paulo Barreto, geographer and art educator, joined the Nzinga Group. Paulo, better known as Poloca, had been part of GCAP in Salvador since its founding, and already had the title of Contramestre. During their time practicing Capoeira Angola in Bahia, Janja, Paulinha and Poloca, met some of the most important and renowned masters of Capoeira Angola, such as Mestre João Grande and Mestre Cobra Mansa.

In the 1990s, the Nzinga Group organized culturally significant events, educating and inspiring communities in São Paulo through Afro-Brazilian Cultural Marathons, discussions, workshops, celebration and Capoeira Angola. The audience included a diverse array of social activists including members of the Hip-Hop movement, NGOs and educators. Members of Grupo Nzinga were encouraged to focus their Academic Research on the production of papers, monographs, dissertations and theses as a way of intensifying and informing the dialogue between the traditional culture and the academy. Activities were developed in conjunction with black women collectives, cultural centers, schools and other similar entities.

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In the 2000s, the Nzinga Group expanded its efforts and realized a few new achievements:

  • Workshops at the World Social Forum, with special participation in "Forumzinho", promoting Capoeira Angola to children around the world.

  • The release of the CD Nzinga Capoeira Angola, the production of a Clip (follow attachments) and the video IÊ, Viva meu mestre.

  • The launch of the Toques d'Angola Magazine, an internet domain, the website www.nzinga.org.br, and the inauguration of new nuclei of the group's works.

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Between 2001 and 2002, a new group nucleus emerged in Salvador, led by Mestre Poloca, and Brasília, with a significant number of members. This expansion in organizational reach was accompanied by a shift in operational structure.  When Nzinga was oringinally founded, the organization was sponsored by partner entities such as the Institute of Psychology of USP and the Elenko Cultural Center. To accompany the organizational growth experienced in 2001, the Nzinga Institute of Studies of Capoeira Angola and of Banto Educational Traditions in Brazil (INCAB) was founded to serve as the legal representation of the group.  

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In April 2003, INCAB's headquarters were inaugurated in Jardim Colombo, West Zone of São Paulo. In this community, one of the poorest neighborhoods in the capital, the Nzinga Group has translated its activist vocation by organizing pedagogical complementation actions for children in the community and offering free classes in Capoeira Angola and Popular cultures for the children and adolescents of the neighborhood within the Ginga Muleke Project. At the Kakurukaju Project, senior citizens participated in body awareness activities, Capoeira Angola and discussions on blackness.

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In September 2004, Mestra Janja received the honorary title of ‘Paulistana Citizen’ by the City Council of São Paulo for her outstanding work in preserving and fighting for the values ​​of the country's black community.

In 2005, the work of the Nzinga Group grew internationally with the opening of centers in Marburg, Germany and Mexico City. Mestra Janja moved back to Salvador and assumed the leadership of the Department of Women for the Secretary of the Promotion of Equality of the State of Bahia – SEPROMI- and later the position of full professor in the Department of Education of the Federal University of Bahia.

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Mª Paulinha directs the Centro de Estudos Afro Orientais de Salvador - CEAO - UFBA, and Mestre Poloca has been developing activities for the rescue of African folktales and stories with children from public schools in Salvador for five years. In São Paulo and in other nuclei, the work was assumed by those called in the training tradition, older members, responsible for conducting the group's activities.

In 2008, the Nzinga Institute decided to move its headquarters to the Largo da Batata region in Pinheiros. Upon reestablishing itself in this neighborhood, where Nzinga was based for several years, a nucleus of activities began to operate in the facilities of Projeto Viver, Jardim Colombo, ensuring continuity of neighborhood-focused work. Nzinga's angoleiros and angoleiras are mostly people from the community, young students, university students, musicians, artists, teachers, workers ... gathered in a diversity of at least three generations.

 

Nzinga branches can be found in São Paulo, Brazilia, Rio de Janeiro - Brazil, Mexico City - Mexico,  Maputo - Mozambique, London - England, Tokyo - Japan, and Atlanta - United States.

 

Above all, the Nzinga Group is made up of people who know each other, like each other, like what they do and especially like and believe in accomplishing great things together.

NZINGA CAPOEIRA ANGOLA GROUP

Source: Grupo Nzinga de Capoeira Angola: http://nzinga.org.br/

From left to right: Mestre Tião Carvalho, Mestra Paulinha Barreto, Myriam Dormer and Baby Girl, Mestra Janja Araújo

Mestre Poloca e Mestra Paulinha, Salvador, 2012

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