Cintura Preta 2026

It only happens once every two years...

Cintura Preta is coming back!

If you made it to Cintura Preta in 2022 or 2024, you already have an idea of what's at stake if you miss this one. You might never forgive yourself! It's just that good.

Cintura Preta 3 (CPIII) will take place in Atlanta, Georgia on September 22-27, featuring several days of incredible guests, workshops, panels, shows, and more. The Cintura Preta experience centers the African influence and the Black experience within contemporary capoeira practice, infusing the distinct flavor of the diasporic expressions of the African-American context into the mix.

"Cintura Preta" is a Portuguese phrase roughly translating to "Black Belt," the nickname for the region across the Southeastern US states known for its fertile black soils, and eventually known for its high concentration of Black people.

Every Cintura Preta experience is unique, in structure, form, locale, themes, and more. And every single one is the capoeira experience of a lifetime. If you made it in 2022 or 2024, we'll be glad to have you back.

If this is your first one, welcome to the quilombo.

(Full event schedule below — subject to updates!)

WHY CENTER BLACKNESS?

Capoeira was created by African people who were kidnapped from their native lands, sold into chattel slavery in Brazil, and separated from their roots. These African people kept their culture, traditions, and values alive through capoeira and a number of other afro-diasporic cultural practices. However, over the past hundred years or so, capoeira has experienced a sort of gentrification that has resulted in the loss of much of the African wisdom, context, and people from regular practice.

Schools often "follow the money" and focus on capoeira as an exercise or hobby– teaching movement, instrumentation, even music, without engaging with the deeper African material necessary to deeply comprehend and appreciate modern-day capoeira, and to fully connect the struggle of our ancestors who created capoeira with the very real struggles of marginalized peoples today through capoeira.

This is especially clear in the Black Belt region of the Southeastern USA. Capoeira schools with predominantly black students, as is often the case, are more likely to be:

• under-funded
• under-supported
• under-resourced
• and overlooked.

We know that CAPOEIRA IS FOR ALL, but questions must be asked: What is capoeira without Black People? What is capoeira without Africa? What IS capoeira fundamentally?

We're breaking that circle:

The way we're doing capoeira here in Atlanta is no accident. It's a capoeira that's been growing for years out of a need that's been largely unaddressed by the capoeira world. That's not radical. It's capoeira.

Capoeira at the very beginning grew out of a need – several needs: to preserve culture, to preserve life, to restore dignity, and to do right by the ancestors.

Come do that with us.

Are you ready to tap into this axé?

EVENT SCHEDULE Locations and times below are tentative and subject to confirmation.

Tuesday, September 22:  6:30pm - 9:30pm — Capoeira Workshop - East Point Location

Wednesday, September 23: 6:30pm - 9:30pm — Ring Shout Workshop - Jonesboro

Thursday, September 24: 6:30pm - 9:30pm - Location: Jonesboro (Workshop)

Friday, September 25: Location: Marietta Performance Training

• 6:00pm — Workshop (Instructor: TBA)
• 7:00pm — Workshop (Mestra Amazonas)
• 8:00pm — Roda

Saturday, September 26: Location: Marietta Performance Training

• 9:00am — Opening Ceremony (libation, etc.)
• 10:00am — Capoeira Blues Class (exploring the link between the Blues and Capoeira) or Music Workshop (Instructor: Estagiario Tranquilo)
• 11:00am — Capoeira Workshop (Instructor: Mestra Amazonas)
• 12:00pm — Roda
• 1:00pm — Lunch
• 3:00pm - 4:30pm — Capoeira Workshop (Instructor: CM Gugu)
• 5:00pm — Troca de Cordas
• 9:00pm — Finalmente
• 10:00pm — Fim

Sunday, September 27: Location: Grant Park (tentative) 12:00pm - Coming soon. Look here for extra announcements that may come through later.