ABADÁ-Capoeira San Francisco (ACSF) works to preserve, develop, and share the art of capoeira with integrity and to use capoeira to build a healthy, just, and vibrant society in which people feel connected to and responsible for their community. By exploring creative ways of sharing capoeira and related arts, ACSF remains a pioneering force in the preservation and development of Brazilian arts.

Capoeira, ACSF’s primary discipline, is a Brazilian art that combines ritual, self-defense, movement and music in a rhythmic dialogue of body, mind, and spirit.

ACSF shares name and philosophy with the international ABADÁ-Capoeira organization, which was founded in 1988 by Mestre Camisa and is based in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. ABADÁ is an acronym—translated into English, stands for “Brazilian Association for the Support and Development of the Art of Capoeira.” Today, ABADÁ-Capoeira is the world’s largest capoeira organization with upwards of 50,000 members in more than 56 countries.