Dance 
Gustavo
Campos dosSantos Caldas
Gustavo led several dance master classes for Batucaxé in 2007.
Gustavo
Campos dos Santos Caldas is a native of Salvador, Bahia. He began studying
the national Afro-Brazilian martial art and dance, capoeira as a young
child in the neighborhood of Solar do Unhao. During Brazil's colonial
period, Solar do Unhão was an early slave
plantation where early documents reveal Africans developing the practice
of Capoeira in Brazil.
The Caldas family hails from a long lineage of capoeiraistas that have
practiced the martial art and Afro-Brazilian dance and music. Having
grown up in this rich cultural landscape, Gustavo has been exposed to
learning all facets of the Capoeira tradition including the making and
playing of the most important Capoeira instrument such as the Berimbau.
Gustavo offers classes in both the practice and instrumentation of Capoeira
in his community to children and adults.
In 2003, the Bale Folclorico da Bahia recognized Caldas' exceptional
capoeira talents during an open audition. Out of hundreds of participants,
Gustavo was one of two people who were selected to join the Bale Folclorico
da Bahia. Immediately, Gustavo was placed in the company's premier touring
company. Often times, new members are trained in their amateur group
before they can move up in the ranks. Upon entering, Gustavo became a
core company member performing the roles as both dancer and capoeirista
in the daily theater shows locally and abroad. In 2004, Gustavo toured
with the Bale to the United States to complete a four month national
tour. In 2005, he traveled to Europe twice to perform shows in Italy.
During one of the Italy tours, Gustavo was chosen by the Bale to teach
adult capoeira workshops.
Mr. Caldas has studied with many of Bahia's most important instructors
of Afro-Brazilian cultural traditions including Raimundo B. dos Santos,
aka Mestre King, Master Zambe, Rosangela Silvestre, Jose Ricardo Souza,
Nildinha Fonseca and Vera Passos at the State of Bahia's Cultural Foundation
School of Dance and Music.
Caldas' unique talents as a capoeirista, dancer, and musician has allowed
him the opportunity to travel to the United States and Europe with one
of Brazil's most important ensembles. He has traveled to over 100 hundred
cities in the United States in 2004 and 2005 and throughout Italy in
Europe in 2004.