Mestranda Yara Cordeiro

Mestranda Yara Cordeiro has been practicing capoeira since 1982, started teaching in 1996, and in 2023 she received the rank of Mestranda in Abada-Capoeira. Mestranda Yara holds a Bachelor’s Degrees in psychology and physical education, and has been a physical education teacher since 1994. She has Graduate Degrees in Sports Psychology and in Capoeira from the University of Brasília (UnB) and a Master’s Degree in Psychology from the Brasília Catholic University (UCB). She has consistently directed her studies towards understanding the unexplored aspects of the relationship between capoeira and sports psychology. Besides her academic work in capoeira, Mestranda Yara has held workshops and given lectures about capoeira in Brazil and the U.S. and is qualified to teach capoeira to the most diverse groups: children, adolescents, adults, people with special needs, and the elderly. She has created a special fitness program that uses capoeira movements for aerobic and localized exercises, as well as another program that uses capoeira movements as a form of body expression and for choreography. In 2008 Mestranda Yara moved to the Washington DC area and to implement and coordinate the Abadá-Capoeira program. In 2012, Abada-Capoeira DC was recognized as a nonprofit – 501(c)(3) organization. In 2015, Mestranda Yara was approved for her Permanent Residency in the U.S. as a person with Exceptional Ability in the National Interest for her knowledge and achievement in Capoeira. Visit https://abadadc.org/ for more information, to register for classes, and to sign up for a free trial class.