ABOUT

ABOUT US

Rise Training Academy is a cultural space providing wellness and martial arts instruction to the underserved South Side community. We add to the continuing revitalization of the area providing services not currently offered within our neighborhoods.

We believe that learning capoeira, as well as other martial arts and wellness practices, are excellent ways to introduce and immerse arts, culture, and fitness to people of all ages. Exercise and movement are beneficial to combating stress and are known to help improve mood. Martial arts are known to improve self-confidence and discipline.

OUR CORE VALUES

Remain a center for healthy and positive activities as a part of everyday life
Be a valuable resource that continues to improve the welfare of our South Side community
Be a hub for community resources through collaboration with local businesses and organizations based on the South Side
Host health and wellness events for the community, family-friendly and always free of charge
Invest back into the community by providing employment opportunities to local residents

MISSION STATEMENT

To provide health, wellness, and education through martial arts of enslaved or colonized communities.

Rise Training Academy was and continues to be riven with pain by the knowledge that citizens are being hunted, shot in their own homes, and strangled in the public square while being denied their basic humanity. Rise Training Academy has always been a resource of the Chicago South Side and always will be. We have great pride in our city because it has made us who we are and we know we owe so much.

The first few years of my martial arts journey was spent exploring the idea of “did I belong here?” Capoeira, after I got to know her better, provided me with a home and family. I ultimately committed to capoeira because capoeira addressed the idea of me having my own Afrocentric ideologies, but I still had to learn to navigate in a world that doesn’t share those values.

If the capoeira Rise Training Academy teaches represents freedom, then oppression is the enemy to the Rise capoeirista. Capoeira is for the people, not the establishment. As a capoeirista, I will always fight to support the people. The people are all shades of melanin and include the rainbows of sexual orientations and gender identities. We don’t fear to share our ideas. We fear that if we don’t share our ideas you’ll never realize this is where you belong. There is plenty of martial art and fitness options but we are here to proudly serve the South Side of Chicago.

Contra Mestre Tinta Forte

owners

Rise Training is owned and operated by Tinta Forte and De Boa. They established RISE Training in 2017.

Contra Mestre Tinta Forte

Contra Mestre Tinta Forte, as he is known in the capoeira community, was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. He is responsible for developing the Rise Training capoeira curriculum and is the lead instructor of our capoeira classes.

CM Tinta Forte is also in charge of managing all capoeira instructors, establishes class schedules, and manages facilities.

De Boa

De Boa, as she is known in the capoeira community, was born and raised in Chicago. She teaches the Capoeira for Kids School Programs with CM Tinta Forte.

De Boa also manages all Rise Training financial, marketing campaigns, and event operations. She establishes Rise Training collaborations and partnerships with local organizations and is in charge of Rise Training’s free community resource offerings and special events.

TEACHERS

RISE Training offers martial arts instruction on the Southside of Chicago under the direction of Contra Mestre Tinta Forte. We currently offer capoeira classes for adults and children at all levels and host various martial arts events in the city. Our capoeira teachers have decades of experience, both domestically and internationally.

CONTRA MESTRE TINTA FORTE

Contra Mestre Tinta Forte, as he is known in the capoeira community, was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago in the West Pullman neighborhood. After high school, Victor started training in the Afro-Brazilian martial art of capoeira with Mestre Marisa Cordeiro of Gingarte Capoeira in 1999. Mestre Marisa’s capoeira group was often booked to perform at Brazilian cultural shows. As a performer, Victor was able to experience all parts of the city and is grateful for this art that teaches pride through an Afrocentric experience.

Although the majority of his capoeira training has been in Chicago, Contra Mestre Tinta Forte has trained capoeira all over the world including extensive periods of time in Brazil. He managed his own capoeira group while living in Albuquerque, New Mexico for several years before returning to Chicago. Contra Mestre Tinta Forte has taught throughout the United States and abroad. He earned his “Contra Mestre” capoeira cord in 2022.

Contra Mestre Tinta Forte has taken the Training For Mandated Reporters. Working with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Child Abuse Hotline, this course helps all Illinois Mandated Reporters understand their critical role in protecting children by recognizing and reporting child abuse. He teaches with safety as a priority and are American Red Cross CPR and First Aid certified.

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INSTRUCTOR EMBUIA

Instructor Embuia has been training capoeira for over 17 years in Chicago and has traveled extensively nationally and internationally to capoeira events.

Embuia has also hosted virtual workshops for Rise Training Academy on health and nutrition. Instructor Embuia currently teaches our capoeira kids and adults classes.

In addition to being a martial artist, he also works as Community Engagement Manager for Healthy Schools Campaign.

INSTRUCTOR COM DENDE

Com Dendê began his capoeira journey training in the Angola style during his senior year of high school in 2002. He spent nearly two years with his teacher before circumstances left him needing a new capoeira home, and he found one in Gingarte Capoeira in 2005.

In capoeira, Com Dendê had found an outlet and a family unlike in any other activity, even his previous personal favorites of volleyball and soccer. For him, the art represented freedom - and for that reason he has remained a student of it for two decades, no matter where life has led. His training saw some hiatuses when he spent some years living in the suburbs to further his education, and more still when he became a father in 2015 and joined the electrician's trade. Even so, Com Dendê comes to capoeira as a man with much perseverance, and he earned his blue 'instructor' cord in July of 2022.

Instructor Com Dendê currently teaches Rise Training adults and kids capoeira classes and performs at our capoeira community events.

Photo credit: Eli Williams

MESTRE MARISA CORDEIRO

Rise Training trains under the tutelage of Mestre Marisa Cordeiro. She ranks among the highest female capoeiristas in the United States. Mestre Marisa is a leader of the Brazilian community in Chicago and founder of her group Gingarte Capoeira in 1991.

Born in Curvelo, Brazil, Mestre Marisa is a student of Mestre Suassuna and trained at the prestigious Cordão de Ouro Capoeira Academy in São Paulo with other top masters such as Mestre Canguru and Mestre Urubu Malandro. She is well respected in Brazil and around the world as a pioneer for women in capoeira.

TRY A CLASS

Classes are currently being offered online via Zoom and in person. Register for more info.

In-person classes are being held on at 8716 S Colfax Ave, Chicago, IL 60617 in East Side neighborhood. There is free street parking.

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