Contra-Mestre Foca began training Capoeira in 1988 in Brasília with Mestre Ralil of “Raízes do Brasil” (i.e. roots of Brazil) Capoeira. He started teaching in his own neighborhood as a teenager and went on to teach throughout Brasília and eventually internationally, in Hawaii, California and New York. Contra-Mestre Foca settled in Brooklyn in 2004.