Native of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, I started Capoeira Angola when I was twelve years old with my father Jose Vicente Dantas. He was a student of Joao Bodeiro de Serriha. However, as the Brazilian saying goes, "a household saint will produce no miracles." So I went to train with Mestre Alfonsinho, the son of YoYo, a civil policeman. Then, after Mestre Alfonsinho closed his academy, I began to study with Mestre Curio. However, I needed to earn a living, so I decided to quit the academies and play street Capoeira.

In 1989, I came to the United States with Franco Fontana's group 'Oba Oba' and danced with the troupe in a Broadway show, as well as other shows across the United States. On October 23, 1993, I arrived in Miami with the group ‘Scala Miami’. During the shows, I would receive little notes from the audience, brought backstage to me by the waitstaff, asking me to teach them my art. So I began to teach in the same space I performed.

I have had four Mestres: my father, Jose Vicente Dantas; Mestre Alfonsinho, filho de YoYo da Policia Civil; Mestre Curio, Jaime Martins dos Santos; and my city, Salvador, Bahia.

M. Caboquinho de Aruanda in street capoeira in Cachoeira, Bahia.

Today, I live in Detroit, Michigan, to protect Capoeira Angola, to make my tribe grow and to teach my roots. I will continue to teach Capoeira Angola with my heart and I will stop only when Deus tells me.