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Ventania

Ventania (Ilana Queiroz) is a teaching artist from Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

She teaches Capoeira and music, two constant elements in her life for the last 25 years. She has been teaching Capoeira and music since 2000, working in more than a dozen schools in the San Diego area. 

Ilana's Capoeira class consists of stretches (body consciousness), warm up (often with games related to the history or movements learned), and technique (kicks, dodges, timing, and sequences). In the music part of her classes, she teaches rhythms and different instruments through Capoeira songs. Children learn how to play the agogô, pandeiro, atabaque (drum), reco-reco, caxixi and sometimes the berimbau. The students learn to work in harmony with other players, because in Capoeira we play and respond to the chorus. The lyrics are in Portuguese, so the children have the chance to get in touch with a new language, leveling all students to a new experience.

“Capoeira is a complete art. It teaches timing, spatial perception, eye contact, respect, community, and partnership. It teaches children to be courageous and to try a new art, in a different discipline. Capoeira provides movement where kids can literally see the world from another perspective — doing cart wheels, hand and head stands, and other movements.” —Ilana Queiroz

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