Activation – Sertão Negro – The Capoeira Angola of Sertão Negro

On November 19, the workshop The Capoeira Angola of Sertão Negro will take place as part of a series of activations by Sertão Negro at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo. The activity runs from 2pm to 4pm in the Sertão Negro installation on the first floor.

Located in the Cerrado region of Goiás and grounded in the principles of quilombo and terreiro, Sertão Negro is built upon ancestry, agroecology, vernacular architecture, and the affective and pedagogical exchanges that unfold among artists, masters, apprentices, and the surrounding community. The space hosts ongoing practices such as ceramics, printmaking, and agroecology classes, Capoeira Angola, and artist residencies that foster encounters among different languages, bodies, and creative processes.

For the 36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice – Sertão Negro proposes a series of activations throughout the entire duration of the exhibition. Each month, two sessions will be dedicated to sharing practices and processes that reflect life in the Sertão, whether through gestures of the body, sound, conversation, or collective making. These activations, with sensory, pedagogical, and performative qualities, invite the public to experience, even briefly, the poetic surroundings of the Sertão Negro Complex.

The Capoeira Angola of Sertão Negro highlights the experiences and processes developed over four years of work at the art school, where classes are led by Carlos Alberto Martins Alves, better known as Mestre Guaraná. Participants will be introduced to berimbau assembly techniques, experimentation, playing methods, execution of rhythms, exploration of sound, and connections between Afro-diasporic musicality, body, and game. The activation concludes with an open Capoeira roda with public participation. The workshop will also feature artist Tor Teixeira and treinel Evaristo Santos.

Mestre Guaraná is a Capoeira Angola master and founder of the Calunga group. With 40 years of ginga, he is a visual artist and art educator. Based in Goiânia, he works at Sertão Negro Ateliê e Escola de Artes. His research investigates the memory and trajectory of Capoeira in Goiás, materialized through woodcut and pyrography.

Evaristo Santos is a treinel—professor trained by Mestre Guaraná in the Calunga group. He lives and works with Capoeira Angola in Goiânia, teaching children and young people on the city’s outskirts. Founder of the Idalina group in Goiânia, he promotes socio-cultural and educational actions in collaboration with the samba school Brasil Mulato.

Tor Teixeira is a visual artist whose research stems from Capoeira Angola. Through painting, he proposes a game of reflections in which light, refraction, and shadow operate as critical tools for reinventing masculinities. He is part of Sertão Negro and the collective Jatobá Nascente, and is currently represented by Cerrado Galeria.

Service
Activation – Sertão Negro – The Capoeira Angola of Sertão Negro
36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice
November 19, 2025
Wednesday, 2pm
Sertão Negro installation, ground floor
Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo
Parque Ibirapuera, gate 3
Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, s/n
São Paulo, SP
free admission