Mark York Mendes da Silva, born on November 27, 1978 in the city of Teresopolis, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, began Capoeira in 1995 at the academy of Mestre Elias. During his first baptism in 1996, baptized by his Master, he obtained the yellow rope and the following year the orange rope. In 1998, then a gray rope, he began teaching underprivileged children in the city's public squares, a project run by Mestre Elias, then within the academy for children and adults. In 2000, he left Brazil to join Professor Torneiro and the instructors Banana and Cristina (their ranks at the time) in France. They began to develop work together in several cities (Paris, Dammarie, Saint Germain, Reims). In August 2001 he left for Brazil and obtained the green rope and became an Instructor, he returned to France, continued to develop Capoeira with Torneiro and Banana and in 2002, each decided to develop their own work. Mark then taught in Dammarie-les-lys and Reims, since then the work has developed well and extended to several towns in Seine et Marne, Essonne and the Marne region. Today Mestre (formed in 2019 by the Senzala Group), he directs the work of several graduate students who have started teaching Capoeira in several regions of France. Its objective is to continue to teach Capoeira and to transmit a part of Brazilian culture through it.
