Originally hailed from the land of rising sun, Professor Bala started Capoeira on November in 2004 in Hawaii. Like most people who saw the movie “Only The Strong” in the 90s, he was immediately hooked and wanted to learn Capoeira but there was no school or teacher available at that time. So he decided to take on breakdancing, which later became his foundation to his Capoeira. Upon moving to Hawaii in 2004, he coincidentally met a Capoeira practitioner at a park and started his first training of Capoeira. In 2006, Contra-mestre Pintado from Capoeira Cordão de Ouro (CDO) Group in Campinas, Brazil, officially opened a group in Honolulu and Bala joined Cordão de Ouro group as his first student. Unfortunately CM Pintado left the island after a few years, but Mestre (then instrutor) Duas Duzias moved to Honolulu in 2008 and kept the CDO group open on the island.
He received his Instrutor belt (cordão azul) in November 2013 at Mestre Coruja’s formatura ceremony in São Paulo.
He received his Professor title in January 2018 at the Capoeirando in Ilheus, Bahia, Brazil. He continues to train and teach Capoeira in Hawaii islands as well as abroad.