Grupo Maculelê Atlanta was established in December 2002 with the arrival of Mestre Fran and Professora Sara. With the help of Steven Alphabet, Mestre Fran introduced the unfamiliar martial art to the students of Georgia State University. From there, Grupo Maculelê spread to other schools in the area, including Emory University and University of Georgia in Athens. We trained and worked with Mestre Fran to increase the exposure of Capoeira in Atlanta, encourage knowledge of the Afro-Brazilian culture, and develop physical and musical abilities.
Over the past years, we have hosted numerous events with special guest Mestres, Professors, and Instructors from all over the world and performed in numerous festivals through out the city of Atlanta including the Underground Atlanta, Piedmont Park, Atlanta Area Schools and many more.
Today, Maculelê in Atlanta continues to focus on the principles that Mestre Fran has promoted since his first days of Capoeira. Our philosophy is based on the physical, moral, and spiritual values of the human being. As a group we aim to achieve goals such as:
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Developing every member’s talent and helping them to be the best they can be
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Raising every member’s awareness of socio-economic issues in the community
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Encouraging the practice of Capoeira as an art, a fight, and as a path to social, cultural, and athletic integration
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Training members with the purpose of creating great Capoeira instructors in order to expand Capoeira and the Afro-Brasilian culture all over the world
Capoeira by itself is interesting, fun, culturally valuable and just generally a good practice - but that's true of lots of martial arts. What makes Mestre Fran and his school unique is is combination of his profound technical understanding and mastery with a welcoming, engaging, and fun teaching style. My four-year-old son has been studying there for almost a year - I honestly didn't expect that we'd find a school that would be able to balance engaging kids with really high-level training, but here it is, right in our own Decatur! And the fact that Mestre Fran himself is the one teaching the kids' classes is kind of amazing. We are lucky to have Mestre Fran's school here!