Folk Arts Apprenticeship

Utah Arts & Museums with National Endowment for the Arts funding

In late 2024, Taina, the niece of Mestre Jamaika, immigrated to the United States from Bahia, Brazil—bringing with her the deep cultural roots of her Afro-Brazilian heritage. Soon after her arrival, she began an apprenticeship in capoeira under the guidance of her uncle. This project was made possible by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), administered by the Folk Arts Apprenticeship Program of Utah Arts & Museums.

The apprenticeship provided dedicated time and resources for Mestre Jamaika—a capoeira master, artist, and culture bearer—to mentor Taina in capoeira’s rich traditions, which blend movement, music, history, and community. Together, they explored their shared family history as well as capoeira’s movement, musical foundations, and cultural meaning, with a shared goal of keeping their ancestral traditions alive in a new country.

As part of the project, Taina also had the opportunity to share her learning with the public. At Quilombola Roots, a cultural event hosted by Salt Lake Capoeira in spring 2025, she presented to an audience of nearly 200 people, speaking about her ancestry and family heritage and performing a powerful maculelê stick dance—an Afro-Brazilian folk dance often practiced alongside capoeira.

Background of Capoeira & Their Quilombola Heritage

Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian art form that was created by enslaved Africans in Brazil to help overcome oppression by practicing combat and self defense disguised as a dance. Today there are vibrant quilombo communities with descendants of African-Brazilians who were enslaved and who birthed the Afro-Brazilian arts. Mestre Jamaika’s family comes from these quilombos. His mother was born and raised in the Volta Miúda quilombo, and his father in the Helvécia quilombo. 

Growing up in such a rural area and in poverty meant that his parents didn’t have a chance to go to school and learn to read. They moved with their kids to a bigger town to provide more educational opportunities, and Jamaika grew up visiting these familial quilombos on weekends and summers and learning the oral history and traditions from his elders.

Capoeira continued to evolve as it expanded from these rural farm areas to the cities throughout northeast Brazil, then the entire country, and finally the United States and the world. Today capoeira continues to preserve and pass on the values and stories of the quilombo communities through dance and song and movement, where all are part of the circle.

As capoeira continues to be practiced by people of all backgrounds around the world, it’s especially important to foster and train the next generation of Afro-Brazilian practitioners who carry its heritage in their lineage. Ensuring that Afro-Brazilian people remain central as cultural bearers helps preserve the art form’s roots and integrity.

A Conversation Between Mestre Jamaika & Taina

As part of their Folk Arts Apprenticeship project, Mestre Jamaika and his niece Taina reflected on their shared journey of cultural preservation and learning. Their story highlights the importance of intergenerational mentorship, family connections, and passing down traditional knowledge through the art of capoeira.

Q: Mestre Jamaika, how has teaching Taina been different from working with other students in your capoeira community?

“With Taina, we speak the same language—not just Portuguese, but the language of where we come from. We share the same blood—the blood of the people who created capoeira. We come from the same land, the same story. We carry memories of the same place and people, just from different times.”

— Mestre Jamaika

Q: Taina, what has it been like learning capoeira from your uncle now that you’re living in the U.S.?
Taina: "It’s really special. Capoeira in Brazil was good too, but I like training with my uncle here even more. It feels really good to be close to him."

Q: Taina, why did you start practicing capoeira?
Taina: "My uncle started capoeira when he was young and he’s a big inspiration to me. I wanted to learn more, so I asked my mom if I could take lessons when we were still in Brazil. It has to do with both my grandma and grandpa, and it connects to our family’s history. I think it’s cool that it comes from my Black roots. It’s something important to me—something from when our family was being persecuted. And I love it."

Q: Mestre Jamaika, what parts of capoeira or Afro-Brazilian culture have felt most important to emphasize in this apprenticeship?
Mestre Jamaika: "I focused a lot on history and music—because that’s where the stories live. I shared what I learned from my grandma and my mom. They were the matriarchs, the storytellers of our family. That’s how our culture lives on."

Q: Taina, what was your favorite part of the apprenticeship—movement, music, or something else?
Taina: "Music! We have a really strong connection to our culture through music, and I learned a lot."

Q: Mestre Jamaika, was there a moment during the apprenticeship that stood out to you?
Mestre Jamaika: "One day, I was trying to teach her a song, and she ended up teaching me. I had forgotten some lyrics, but she remembered them because she had just come from Bahia. That moment really stuck with me."

Q: Taina, how do you feel when you're in the roda or playing music with others in the capoeira community?
Taina: "I feel happy and full of energy. It makes me want to move more."

Q: Taina, can you describe a moment that made you feel proud or more confident?
Taina: "Yes! When I learned how to do the movement called 'macaquinho.' It gave me confidence and showed me that if I work hard, I can do things I didn’t think I could."

Q: Taina, what has been the most challenging part of your capoeira journey so far?
Taina: "Learning how to play the instruments the right way. That part is hard."

Q: Taina, what’s something you’ve learned from Mestre Jamaika that you’ll always carry with you?

“I learned to never give up. Even if you can’t do something right away, always try.”

— Taina

Q: Mestre Jamaika, what surprised you about this experience—either in Taina’s growth or your own?
Mestre Jamaika: "One surprise was how many questions she asked—and how many I couldn’t answer. It reminded me how much I still need to learn. Our history in Brazil has been hidden or destroyed by colonizers. My mom didn’t have a camera until she got a phone just a few years ago. I have almost no photos from my childhood. Those memories are just missing. Everything takes double effort for us. We don’t just teach our culture—we have to go find it, protect it, and pass it on. That’s why this work is so important."

Q: Taina, why do you think it’s important for young people—especially Afro-Brazilians—to learn about their culture through art?
Taina: "So our culture doesn’t die. We need to always have someone to represent our culture."

Q: Mestre Jamaika, why do you think it’s important for arts organizations to support cultural transmission within families and immigrant communities?
Mestre Jamaika: "School can teach facts, but culture is learned through connection—through music, dance, and shared experience. Capoeira brings all of that together. For immigrant families like mine, it helps us stay connected to our roots. But it’s not just for us—it gives Americans a chance to learn about other cultures and enhance their own lives in a real, personal way. That builds understanding and respect.

The problem is, most artists can’t make a living just teaching their traditions. Support from arts organizations makes it possible to pass on this knowledge. I’ve had students tell me capoeira changed their lives. That’s powerful. It helps keep our culture alive, especially in places far from where it started. I’m grateful to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), Utah Arts & Museums, Salt Lake Arts Council, and Utah Arts Alliance that have all helped me invest more time in my art."

Q: Mestre Jamaika, how do you hope this experience shapes Taina’s future—in capoeira and beyond?
Mestre Jamaika: "Taina is a very smart girl. I feel lucky I got to spend this time with her. I could see her becoming a folklorist and capoeira mestra one day. She’s proud of her roots and wants to help our community back home. She’s in a position to do something many kids in Volta Miúda may never get the chance to do."

Q: Taina, what are your goals now that you’ve completed this apprenticeship?
Taina: "To evolve and become a mestra in capoeira like my uncle. I want to carry his legacy on."

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Salt Lake Capoeira 🇧🇷Jiu-Jitsu (@saltlakecapoeira)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Salt Lake Capoeira 🇧🇷Jiu-Jitsu (@saltlakecapoeira)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Salt Lake Capoeira 🇧🇷Jiu-Jitsu (@saltlakecapoeira)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Salt Lake Capoeira 🇧🇷Jiu-Jitsu (@saltlakecapoeira)

We had the honor of taking part in Rowland Hall’s celebration to remember the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. As Rowland Hall shared, “We encourage you to carry forward the spirit of these gatherings, uniting across differences to create a more trusting, loving, and better world.” Thank you to our Salt Lake Capoeira crew, and all of the teachers, staff, and students at Rowland Hall for this beautiful experience.

Mestre Jamaika had a chance to spend a week in the beautiful Wasatch mountains through the Alta Community Enrichment (ACE) Artist in Residence Program which “provides an artist the opportunity to reflect, relax, and create in the inspiring mountains of Alta, Utah.”

He shares, “I’m not a skier, extreme hiker, climber, or mountain biker, but I feel at home when I have the chance to be in nature. I like to walk in Utah’s mountains and meditate and escape the stresses of everyday life. The combination of the inspiring and calming experience of being at Alta with pursuing some of my artistic goals was an incredible opportunity.”

Rest

Tell us a little about your experience at Alta.

“I have spent quite a bit of time on my own on the tropical coast of Brazil where I’m from, but I haven’t spent very much time alone in nature in the US, and this was a really special experience. I think my first-ever solo hike was during my residency. I spent some time on the trails every day and at first, I was a little nervous, but the friendly vibes and conversations with other hikers, and the welcoming landscape helped me feel comfortable.”

“This feeling is healing.”

In what ways were you able to rest?

“I started practicing capoeira nearly 40 years ago, and when I was younger, I did a lot of acrobatics. This use of my body all of these years has taken a toll, and I deal with chronic pain. I still practice capoeira almost every day, and it’s the way I make money to live. I was grateful for the opportunity to spend time physically resting and stretching. I also spent time studying a book called The Way Out by Alan Gordon. Within the last year, a Little Cottonwood Canyon advocate named Mary Young introduced me to a method of pain management called Pain Reprocessing Therapy. I practiced this reprocessing and really noticed an improvement in my physical pain.”

Were you also able to rest mentally during your residency?

“That was the best part. On my hikes, I’d stop in places with a beautiful view or next to a stream and spend hours playing my berimbau and exploring movement inspired by my surroundings. The combination of being in that environment and practicing my art form was transformational and felt healing. On one of my hikes, I was experiencing those healing vibrations, and passed a hiker and said, ‘This feeling is healing!’ and they laughed and said it back.

I’ve lived in Utah for about 25 years but only started spending time in the mountains for the past few years. Like a lot of people, I started to explore more of my ‘backyard’ during the pandemic. I’m someone who has worked with people my whole life and given energy to that. In return, I receive a lot of positive energy from others. But sometimes the energy exchange can be a lot.  

I have discovered that when I’m in nature, I feel its healing, generous energy, and I felt it every day during my week at Alta. When I first started tuning in to this feeling a few years ago, I had the realization that nature is the only place that gives and doesn’t expect something of me in return. The weight of others’ expectations of me can sometimes feel heavy or unbalanced . . . with students, family here and in Brazil, and the community I left behind in my homeland. As a leader of my capoeira community in Salt Lake and as someone who comes from an area where family members and friends need a lot of financial help and other types of support, the weight of all that can be overwhelming. Through some especially hard times, I found a lot of solace in nature.

But I was wrong about my first ‘realization’ that nature gives and expects nothing in return. It needs us to take care of her too.”

Reflection

How did you use the time during your residency in reflection?

“Capoeira is an art form that was forged over centuries by enslaved Africans in Brazil—my ancestors. It’s an art of resistance and of overcoming. I spent time learning about and reflecting on an issue we’re experiencing in Utah, and another one that my people in my area of Brazil are facing. I remember the first time I flew to Salt Lake City in 1999. I saw the Great Salt Lake and I thought, ‘I didn’t know Utah had an ocean.’ And 25 years later, that ‘ocean’ is in crisis. The small village in Brazil where my family comes from is also in crisis and some of the reasons and impacts are similar to what we are experiencing in Utah. I reflected on how I can bring these issues forward in my artistic work.”

Can you share about the crisis your Volta Miúda Quilombo community in Brazil is facing?

“My community in Brazil is experiencing a water crisis that is similar to Utah’s in some ways. My parents were born in quilombos [communities originating from settlements of Afro-Brazilians who were enslaved] where capoeira came from. My grandparents were farmers, and as a young child I often walked with my grandma to get water from our river. Over the years, our land has been stolen and exploited by a billion-dollar paper pulp industry that uses destructive monoculture farming practices, polluting and exhausting our essential water sources. The river I used to walk to as a child has dried up. We also need policies and regulations to change, to center human, animal, and plant life over profit. My cousin is the leader of the village where I’m from, and he has worked hard for decades to gain our land rights back and help heal the area. And we need more help.”

From the National Farmer’s Union of Canada (regarding the video above): “Hear from a Quilombola community leader in the Atlantic Forest biozone of Brazil who is fighting to grow food for their families and communities in direct resistance to the expansion of destructive eucalyptus tree plantations controlled by the major pulp company Suzano. Quilombola communities are fighting for legal recognition of their lands as Suzano continues to encroach on local farms and traditional community lands. Célio Pinheiro Leocádio is a Quilombola, born in the Quilombo of Volta Miúda, in Bahia state and President of the Association of Remaining Quilombola Producers of Volta Miúda.”

The crisis in Mestre Jamaika's village in Brazil, shown above, is affecting their water supply.

Can you tell us a little more about your learnings about Great Salt Lake?

“I spent some time during my residency learning more about what’s happening with lake and ways we can help. I watched a lot of videos from local organizations doing this work. Earlier this year, I applied for a project grant with the Salt Lake Arts Council called Wake the Great Salt Lake. I wasn’t awarded the grant, but the process led me on a path of learning and raising awareness. I’m looking forward to seeing what the awarded artists and arts organizations share through this important project.”

From the Salt Lake Arts Council: Wake the Great Salt Lake is a temporary public art project that aims to educate and inspire residents and visitors to understand and prevent the further decline of the Great Salt Lake. Without action, the collapse of the Great Salt Lake would have major implications for the ecology and economy of the city, state, and region. The project is supported by the Salt Lake City Arts Council, the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, and Bloomberg Philanthropies Public Art Challenge.

“My sister-in-law, Keely Song, is a dance professor at BYU and has created dance projects working with Ben Abbott, another BYU professor who studies ecology and has been one of the most impactful scientists to bring awareness to the crisis at Great Salt Lake. It’s been awesome seeing her work to raise awareness through art. I think this recent video by Dr. Abbott for the Wake the Great Salt Lake project gives a really good summary of what’s happening and how we can help. The notes under the video were some of my biggest take-aways.”

Notes from the Wake the Great Salt Lake Video

What’s happening?

• Great Salt Lake is facing collapse within 5 years, even with the large amount of water we got in 2023 and 2024.

Why does it matter?

• Great Salt Lake has great spiritual significance to Utah’s Indigenous tribes.

• The lake is supporting national industry and our global food supply—more than most of us realize.

• We see a pattern of absolute cultural, economic, and ecological devastation when other saline lakes have been lost like what happened with the Aral Sea. Clusters of diseases also emerge caused by pollution from the lakebed.

• We have to save the lake or else whole cities and whole regions will to be abandoned.

Why is it under collapse?

• The crisis is caused by the overuse of water (but not by our growing population) and exacerbated by climate change.

• It’s from human use of water: 80% is agricultural (2/3 going to alfalfa and hay to feed livestock), 10% mineral extraction, and 10% cities.

What can we do?

• We need artists, community leaders, and political leaders across the spectrum to be working on this so we create an awakening of our values and a change in our vision. We need a broadening of the love that we have for our home . . . and with that, good policy will be inevitable.

• We need to understand water and conserve water.

• We need to figure out how farmers can use less water to water their crops and provide ways to compensate them for their conservation efforts.

Creation

During Mestre Jamaika’s residency, he spent his time exploring capoeira movement inspired by the natural surroundings of mountains, waterfalls, and streams. He connected with some University of Utah film students and scouted a few locations for a possible film project to help bring awareness at the crisis at Great Salt Lake. He also spent time connecting and coordinating with his cousin, Celio, for some future events showcasing capoeira and bringing awareness to the crisis at his home village. His cousin is applying for a visa to visit the US this fall, in hopes of making connections in the US to help their efforts in Brazil.

Can you tell us more about what you were able to work toward during your residency?

“I’m excited about conversations and ideas that were sparked during my time at Alta, and I look forward to seeing how it will all unfold. Capoeira is an art form that was developed and cultivated outside in nature, and I think it’s a perfect way to help bring awareness to these issues.

I also really enjoyed teaching a capoeira class for the ACE program, and I hope to keep coming back to share capoeira with the ACE community in the future.”

“Capoeira’s movements reflect water, which engages with and relies on its surroundings in fluid action and reaction.”

— Mestre Jamaika

Is there anything else you’d like to share?

“I’d just like to thank the ACE program, Sara Gibbs, Megan Oliver for their work and for this beautiful opportunity as well as Cameron at the Goldminer’s Daughter Lodge.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Salt Lake Capoeira 🇧🇷Jiu-Jitsu (@saltlakecapoeira)

Mestre Jamaika was a featured guest musical and dance soloist for The Salt Lake Vocal Artists Utah Premiere of “La Pasión según San Marcos” by Osvaldo Golijov  (The Passion According to St. Mark) directed by Dr. Brady Allen and held at the Libby Gardner Concert Hall March of 2024.

Osvaldo Golijov’s “La Pasión” includes an explosion of vocal and instrumental color, captivating rhythms, stirring melodies, and riveting biblical scenes set in the diverse styles of Latin American / Afro-Cuban cultures. The production is a fully immersive Passion experience, evoking a deeply emotional and meaningful commemoration of Holy Week.

Featuring Guest Artists:
Gonzalo Grau, Piano/Keyboard (Venezuela / Boston)               
Mike Ringquist, Percussion (Boston)                      
Marcus Santos, Percussion (Boston)     
Clara Hurtado Lee, Soprano Soloist (SLC)                  
Biella da Costa, Vocal Soloist (Venezuela)  
Reynaldo González-Fernández, Afro-Cuban Singer/Dancer (Boston)    
Mestre Jamaika Mauro Romualdo, Capoeira Dancer (Brazil / SLC)               

With the internationally acclaimed Salt Lake Vocal Artists conducted by Dr. Brady R. Allred and the “Orchestra La Pasión.”

The first capoeira artist to hold this role was Mestre Deraldo Ferreira, a pioneer of capoeira in the United States and Founder and Artistic Director of The Brazilian Cultural Center of New England. Mestre Jamaika would like to thank Mestre Deraldo for his mentorship and guidance as he helped support him to prepare for the role.

Mestre Jamaika was recently announced as the 2024 recipient of the ACE Artist in Residence. This program provides an artist the opportunity to reflect, relax, and create in the inspiring mountains of Alta, Utah. Capoeira is an art form that was developed and cultivated outside in nature and Mestre Jamaika will use his time at Alta reflecting on that and exploring capoeira movement inspired by the natural surroundings.

He will also use this time to reflect on our water, with the Wasatch mountains being the source. Our water crisis in Utah is one he cares deeply about since he’s lived here for 25 years. His community in Brazil is experiencing a water crisis that echoes Utah’s in some ways. His parents were born in “quilombos” (communities originating from settlements of Afro-Brazilians who were enslaved) where capoeira was formed. Mestre Jamaika’s grandparents were farmers, and as a young child he often walked with his grandma to get water from the river. Over the years, their land has been stolen and exploited by a billion-dollar industry that uses destructive monoculture farming practices, polluting and exhausting their essential water sources. Mestre Jamaika wants to highlight both of these crises and build awareness through his work, and his exploration of movement in nature at Alta can help him with that goal.

Mestre Jamaika enriches our nation with his rich cultural legacy through capoeira; these clips showcase his impact starting with a news clip highlighting an Afro-Arts Celebration he organized followed by a video in which he partnered with Upworthy media organization and American Immigration Council on a campaign dedicated to fostering a more welcoming nation (2022). Other clips highlight teaching and speaking moments as well as words from two of his students.

See Mestre Jamaika showcase his musicality in capoeira from playing the berimbau and atabaque to using his voice in song. It begins with a clip of him sharing a story about joining his grandmother as a young boy to get water from the river and how singing helped her balance the jug on her head and in each hand. It continues with clips featuring his musicality from video projects, classes in Utah, moments in Brazil, and ends with a song he sings called “Eu Não Paro” (I’ll Never Stop) after which he shares, “As long as I’m alive, I’ll never stop fighting. Fighting for our rights. Fighting for capoeira. Fighting to be happy. And fighting to keep this community together.”

This video features clips spanning Mestre Jamaika’s decades-long artistic career that showcase his excellence in movement.

Thanks to Canada’s National Farmer’s Union for hosting this important conversation about the illegal and unjust practices of a multi-billion dollar eucalyptus company taking over the land of the Volta Miúda quilombo in Bahia, Brazil, and what the quilombo is doing to fight it. Jamaika’s cousin, Celio Leocadio, joined the conversation; he is the president of the Volta Miúda quilombo association. A quilombo is a community originating from a settlement of African-Brazilians who were enslaved. Mestre Jamaika founded the Volta Miúda capoeira group named after the region where his family comes from. Volta Miúda lies in a small, rural corner of Bahia, Brazil, the birthplace of capoeira. It’s an officially registered quilombo by the state of Bahia, and continues to thrive with the fusion of African and Brazilian culture.

Here is the description of the video from the Farmer’s Union:

Hear from a Quilombola community leader in the Atlantic Forest biozone of Brazil who is fighting to grow food for their families and communities in direct resistance to the expansion of destructive eucalyptus tree plantations controlled by the major pulp company Suzano.

Indigenous territories and lands settled by Quilombola have been grabbed for eucalyptus tree plantations – and the expansion is not over. The industrial plantations of the largest pulp company in the world, Brazilian company Suzano, surround and cut off many small farming communities. They exhaust local water sources and expose people, crops and farm animals to pesticide spray. Eucalyptus tree plantations have dried up streams, rivers and even lakes in territories where land rights are disputed. The plantations replace native forest, and support no animal life except for eucalyptus pollen that feeds bees.

The Rural Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) is taking back plantation land and transforming it into agroecological and agroforestry farming. They argue the land can be productive for farming and people instead of pulp production and Suzano. Quilombola communities are fighting for legal recognition of their lands as Suzano continues to encroach on local farms and traditional community lands.

Lucy Sharratt and Kaitlyn Duthie-Kannikkatt of the Canadian Biotechnology Action Network (CBAN, https://cban.ca/) met with these leaders during community visits in Brazil as part of an international delegation to exchange information on genetically engineered trees and industrial plantations in May 2023.

Background video 1: In front of eucalyptus harvest, Celio describes the resistance to the eucalyptus plantations and the impacts – a good look at the eucalyptus plantation: https://vimeo.com/848561605

Background video 2: MST leader in the state of Espirito Santo describes that Suzano company dominate the area – we resist by producing healthy food: https://vimeo.com/848025334

Additional Background Info: The pulp company Suzano says it owns 1.4 million hectares of eucalyptus plantations in Brazil. This includes Indigenous territories, and lands settled by Quilombola and peasant peoples and communities. Suzano’s eucalyptus plantations are responsible for serious social, environmental and climate harm, including deforestation, pollution, water shortages, and destruction of fertile lands. In the state of Espírito Santo, families of the Rural Landless Workers’ Movement (MST) produce more than 100 tonnes of food per year on land that they have taken back from Suzano’s eucalyptus. Nobody eats eucalyptus, and more than 33 million families go hungry in Brazil. If Suzano's 1.4 million hectares of plantations were used for land reform, it would be enough to ensure the survival of more than 115,000 families. – excerpted from “What you should know about Suzano Papel e Celulose”, World Rainforest Movement, 2023: https://cban.ca/wp-content/uploads/Wh...

Célio Pinheiro Leocádio is a Quilombola, born in the Quilombo of Volta Miúda, in Caravelas in the far south of Bahia state, in the north-east of Brazil. He is a mobiliser and activist. He is Coordinator of the Quilombola Movements and Articulation of the Far South of Bahia and he is President of the Association of Remaining Quilombola Producers of Volta Miúda – Caravelas.

Diosmar Filho is a PhD candidate in Geography at the Fluminense Federal University (UFF) in Brazil. He is a researcher and scientific coordinator of the Iyaleta Research Association where he leads the "Inequalities and Climate Change" research. He coordinated the research project "Urban Legal Amazon - Socio-spatial Analyses of Climate Change (2020/2022)" and is currently co-leading the research project "Climate Adaptation: an intersection between Brazil 2022-2024.

This short film by Jacek Makowski features our capoeira school and an overview of the art form as well as our Salt Lake Capoeira community.