Yara Cordeiro

Owner

Abada-Capoeira DC Brazilian Arts Center

Professora YaraYara Cordeiro has been practicing capoeira since 1982. She 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. This has led to the publication of three books: Capoeira, Identidade e Adolescência [Capoeira, Identity and Adolescence] (2008); Capoeira e desenvolvimento [Capoeira and development] (2005) and Capoeira e auto-estima [Capoeira and self-esteem], (1998/2003), the latter now in its second edition.Besides her academic work, in capoeira Yara has been a practitioner since 1982 and a teacher since 1996. She has held workshops and given lectures about capoeira in Brazil and the U.S. Yara 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.Yara has traveled around the world showing capoeira. She took part in workshops and shows in Brazil, the U.S., France, Switzerland, Germany and South Korea, among other countries. From 2000 to 2004, Yara also competed in regional, national and world championships, ranking at the top multiple times.In 2008 Professora Yara moved to the Washington DC area and to implement and coordinate the Abadá-Capoeira program in that region. In 2012 Abada-Capoeira DC was recognized as a nonprofit – 501(c)(3) organization.More recently, in 2015, Professora 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.