In the far northeast corner of the Lone Star State, a town of roughly 3,000 people has become an unlikely outpost for one of Brazil's most captivating traditions. Reno, Texas—perched in Lamar County between Paris and the Oklahoma border—is where drumming echoes through rented church halls and community centers, and where a tight-knit circle of capoeiristas keeps a 400-year-old art form very much alive.
How Capoeira Reached Lamar County
Capoeira arrived in Reno not through a formal academy or visiting mestre, but through the steady efforts of a handful of practitioners who relocated to the area during the mid-2010s. Drawn by affordable housing and proximity to larger cities like Dallas and Texarkana, these newcomers brought with them years of training in Capoeira Regional and Contemporânea. By 2017, informal rodas—the circular gatherings where capoeira is played to live music—were happening monthly in a borrowed dance studio on Main Street.
The art form's roots in African resistance and Brazilian cultural identity resonated with a local population eager for diverse programming. Unlike martial arts that emphasize combat, capoeira's blend of acrobatics, dance, call-and-response song, and collective music-making offered something different: a physical practice built on collaboration rather than competition.
The Scene Today: One Group, Many Voices
Today, the heartbeat of Reno's capoeira community is [Local capoeira academy—TK], a collective that offers classes three nights a week to roughly 35 students ranging from ages 7 to 60. The group operates without a permanent studio, rotating between a Pilates studio near the town center, a church fellowship hall, and—when weather permits—the lawn outside the Lamar County Courthouse.
Contra-Mestre [Name TK], who has led instruction since 2019, describes the group's philosophy as deliberately accessible. "We don't turn anyone away for lack of money," they said. "If you can clap and sing, you're already participating."
The academy has no formal affiliation with Grupo Capoeira Brasil, though several members have trained with GCB chapters in Houston and Fort Worth. Instead, it functions as an independent satellite, pulling influences from multiple lineages.
Rather than an annual festival, Reno's capoeira calendar revolves around smaller, recurring gatherings: a monthly roda aberta (open circle) that draws 10–15 visitors from Paris and Clarksville; quarterly workshops led by guest instructors from Dallas; and an informal summer showcase at the Lamar County Fair, where students demonstrate floreios (acrobatic movements) and lead audience members in basic ginga steps.
Saturday Afternoon in the Circle
A typical roda in Reno unfolds with unhurried ritual. At 2 p.m., participants begin tuning the berimbau, the single-stringed bow that commands the tempo. Next come the atabaque drum and pandeiro tambourine. Once the music locks in, two players enter the circle, handshake, and begin their dialogue in movement—kicks disguised as sweeps, cartwheels that become escapes, every gesture answered in kind.
Onlookers clap in rhythm. A chorus of Portuguese call-and-response rises from the bateria musicians. Children too young to play sit at the edge, mimicking the ginga sway with their shoulders.
"It took me two years just to feel comfortable singing," said Maria Santos, 34, a paralegal who started training in 2019 after spotting a flyer at the Paris Public Library. "Now I bring my niece. Capoeira gave me a body I didn't know I had—and a community I didn't know I needed."
Santos's story is not unique. Several parents interviewed said they initially enrolled children for physical activity but stayed for the cultural education. "My son learned about slavery in Brazil, about resistance, about how music can be a weapon," said Derek Hollis, 41, a construction supervisor whose two children have trained since 2021. "That's not what you get in karate class."
Looking Ahead: Growth Without Losing Ground
The future of capoeira in Reno depends on solving a familiar small-town problem: space. The group has outgrown its rotating venues and is fundraising for a dedicated studio, with a target of securing a lease by late 2025. A GoFundMe campaign launched in early 2024 has raised roughly $8,000 toward a $25,000 goal.
There is also talk of formalizing ties with a larger regional organization to bring ranked cordão ceremonies to Lamar County for the first time—an event that could draw visiting capoeiristas from Oklahoma and Arkansas.
What Reno lacks in size, it compensates for in persistence. The drums
