Aranha was born on December 12th of 1980 in Aracaju, Brasil. Raised there, he began training capoeira in 1994 as part of an extracurricular high school activity coordinated by Master Puma of Group Capoeira Resistencia. Aranha trained with Master Puma from 1994 to 1999 until he decided to move to Group Capoeira Brasil training under Master Cabeca whom he is still associated with today.

       He arrived in America in 2003 and has been teaching classes since then. He began teaching classes at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. After teaching there for three months he moved to Phoenix and taught for three more months at the World Gym and Scottsdale Community College.

       Aranha moved to NYC to teach at a gym called The Rock with a fellow member of Group Capoeira Brasil named Abara. He then received his purple chord in 2005 presented to him by Masters Cabeca and Paulinho Sabia. Aranha is an accomplished musician and capoeirista who has achieved the rank of professor in group Capoeira Brasil. Currently Aranha is running his own classes in Albany at SUNY Albany and at the Aikido School in Delmar.

Did You Know?

Aranha is Portuguese for 'spider'. Capoeiristas are often given names to describe their appearance and style of capoeira.

Aranha's Professor cord is purple. This is the 6th highest cord of the 8 different color cords for various levels of capoeira players and teachers. To learn more visit the About Capoeira page