Contra Mestre Pedro “Cachorro” Cruz hails from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil, where he was born and raised. As a young child he used to hang out at Mercado Modelo and Rampa do Mercado in Salvador, Bahia, where he took weekly trips to the island of Vera Cruz-Mar Grande across the bay. Salvador and Vera Cruz are special places in Brazilian history: the Bay of All Saints was the major slave port for most of the Africans who came to work on the sugar and coffee plantations. The bay held the first port of Brazil which received the majority of trade ships from Europe and Africa. It was also the birthplace of Capoeira. It was in this magic place where CMestre Pedro Cruz was exposed to Capoeira as he waited for the boats to leave for Vera Cruz. Several years later he started to learn capoeira in high school and then in the late 80s he joined an academy to start training with Mestre Touche in the Barra neighborhood. Mestre Touche was a student of Mestre China and a great teacher with amazing strength. Around the mid 90s Mestre Touche and Cmestre Pedro Cruz moved to train and teach with Mestre China in the Pituba neighborhood. Eventually he became more influenced by Mestre China’s teacher, Mestre Medicina. In addition to developing a unique way of playing Capoeira, training many of the great Mestres in the city, and founding Grupo Raca, Mestre Medicina held a medical degree. In 2001 CMesrte Pedro Cruz moved to Portland, Oregon and immediately created the first American outpost of Grupo Raca when he began teaching in a class room at the NACA . Since then he has taught in many different places such as Body Moves in downtown Portland, Buckman Elementary School, Center Space as well as participating in many events throughout the city of Portland. He also gets invited to many capoeira events troughout USA and Brazil where he participate in belt graduations, tournaments and music festivals. In Portland CMestre Pedro Cruz is also invited to be a guest musisian and singer for local groups such as Axe-Dide and Lions of Batucada. 833 N Shaver (Mississippi Ballroom) / 420 SE 6th Ave (Center Space) . Portland, OR, USA . 503-703-0028