Edinburgh Kids
Professora Risada
Leads the children’s section of Tucum Capoeira Edinburgh, sharing Capoeira through movement, games, music and the culture surrounding the art.
ABOUT TUCUM CAPOEIRA
Friendship. Strength. Community.
Tucum is more than the name of our group. It represents the kind of Capoeira and the kind of community we want to build around it.
THE NAME
Where Tucum comes from
The word TUCUM (or TICUM) comes from the Tupi language, spoken by Indigenous Tupi peoples of Brazil, and is associated with the idea of a “needle for sewing”.
Tucum is also the name of a palm tree. The dark wood at its heart is exceptionally hard and has traditionally been used to make instruments and utensils. Its fruit is nutritionally rich and has also been studied for its potential health benefits.
Common along the rivers of the Pantanal, the tucum palm grows with multiple stalks and leaves covered in sharp thorns. Indigenous communities traditionally used fibres from the palm for sewing.
Rings made from tucum also came to represent friendship, solidarity and resistance in struggles for liberation.
WHAT IT MEANS TO US
More than a name
In relation to our Capoeira group, TUCUM symbolises above all friendship and inclusiveness.
It also represents something solid and strong — exactly what we want our Capoeira and our community to be.
EDINBURGH
Our story here
Capoeira in Edinburgh began in 2011, initiated by Rod Penn — Mestre Medusa — alongside the guidance of his teacher and mentor, Mestre Papa-Léguas, founder and Mestre of Tucum Capoeira.
In 2019, Mestre Medusa stepped back from leading the Edinburgh group and passed the baton to his students. Today, Professor Minhoquinho leads the adult section and the current development of Tucum Capoeira Edinburgh.
OUR TEACHERS
Meet the Edinburgh team.
Our teachers bring their own experience, interests and personalities to the group while sharing the same approach to Capoeira, community and learning.
Professor Minhoquinho
Professor Minhoquinho leads the adult section and the current development of Tucum Capoeira Edinburgh. He began training Capoeira in 2008 and has been part of the Edinburgh group since its early years.
Since joining the Edinburgh group in 2011, he has trained, travelled and taught under the guidance of Mestre Medusa and Mestre Papa-Léguas. He received the title of Professor in 2022 and combines his teaching with a strong interest in movement, training, filmmaking and documenting Capoeira.
Edinburgh Kids & Music
Professor Pingado
Works alongside Professora Risada with the children’s section and brings a strong musical background to the group, including African drumming and Capoeira music.
OUR MESTRES
At the roots of Tucum.
Founder — Edinburgh
Mestre Medusa
Rod Penn, known in Capoeira as Mestre Medusa, founded the Edinburgh group in 2011 and guided its development for many years.
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Mestre Medusa began Capoeira in Tokyo in 1999. He later founded a Capoeira group in Norwich and reached Instructor level within Grupo Senzala. His Capoeira journey also took him to Indonesia, where he taught and helped organise the first international Batizado in Bali.
In 2009 he decided to continue his development under Mestre Papa-Léguas. After a period of transition he received Instructor level in 2012, followed by Professor in 2014 and Contra-Mestre in 2018. In 2023 he received the title of Mestre.
During his years leading the Edinburgh group, Medusa developed a generation of students who went on to teach and take responsibility for the group themselves. His work laid the foundations for what is now Tucum Capoeira Edinburgh.
His experience has taken him across more than twenty countries as both a student and teacher of Capoeira, including Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, Brazil and numerous countries across Europe.
Outside Capoeira, Rod is also an accomplished photographer and filmmaker, bringing another creative dimension to the way he has documented people, movement and culture.
Founder — Tucum Capoeira
Mestre Papa-Léguas
Jaime Gontijo, known as Mestre Papa-Léguas, is the founder of Tucum Capoeira and the teacher and mentor behind the group’s wider international community.
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Mestre Papa-Léguas was born in Patos de Minas, Brazil, and began learning Capoeira at the age of thirteen. His introduction to the art came almost by accident after seeing a group of people wearing matching Capoeira shirts and following them to a Batizado. That encounter began a lifelong involvement with Capoeira.
Over the following decades he developed as a Capoeirista and teacher, eventually reaching Mestre level in 2014 during Capoeirando in Brazil.
He has taught Capoeira internationally at events in more than forty countries, sharing his approach to movement, music, teaching and the jogo with students from many different backgrounds.
After many years within Cordão de Ouro, Mestre Papa-Léguas developed his own methodology and founded Tucum Capoeira. The group has since grown into an international community with groups and students across Europe, Brazil, Indonesia and the United Kingdom.
His influence remains central to Tucum Capoeira Edinburgh through his teaching, methodology and long-standing relationship with Mestre Medusa and the Edinburgh students who followed them.
TUCUM AROUND THE WORLD
One community. Many places.
Tucum Capoeira connects groups and communities across the UK, Europe, Brazil and Indonesia.
United Kingdom
- Edinburgh
- Manchester
- Glasgow
- York
- Sheffield
- Chorlton
Europe
- Crete
- Eindhoven
- Moscow
Brazil
- Patos de Minas
Indonesia
- Jakarta
- Sangatta
- Surabaya