Mestre Jelon Vieira

Mestre Jelon Vieira is the founder of Capoeira Luanda, The Capoeira Foundation, and founder and artistic director of DanceBrazil. He began training in his native Salvador, Bahia, Brazil and was a student of Mestre Ezequiel. Vieira moved to New York City in 1975, and is recognized as one of the first people to bring the Brazilian Art of Capoeira to the United States. He has worked with many cultural institutions, and has served as a guest teacher at Yale, Oberlin College, Columbia, Princeton, and Stanford University. In 2008, he received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States’ highest honor for traditional and folk artists.

Today, Mestre Jelon Vieira continues to teach Capoeira and dance to students of all ages around the world.