Youth Instructor Spotlight: Professora Toninha
Our school-year kids’ classes kicked off on Aug. 23rd, thanks in big part to one of our main youth instructors, Instrutora Toninha (Erica Hemenway.)
As a capoeira practitioner, she’s known for her sense of humor and focus on technique, informed by her role as a physical therapy assistant. Drawn to capoeira’s athleticism, playfulness, grace, and sense of community, she began training under Mestra Cigarra in 2008. She continued to train regularly, deepening her practice, and soon began to perform capoeira. In 2017, she partnered with the city of Visalia California’s Parks and Recreations Department to teach capoeira in that city to youth and adults. On teaching capoeira, she says:
I’m fortunate to work with children who start with us at the age of five. We guide them through their development until they are 11 or 12, and then we watch as they become teenagers. It’s amazing to see their personalities develop and evolve through capoeira. Teaching these kids is not only enjoyable, but it also allows me to engage in something I am passionate about. Capoeira is a significant part of how I navigate and understand the world and how I identify myself within it. Having practiced capoeira for so long, it has fundamentally influenced my thinking, movement, and processing of experiences. Sharing this with the kids and helping them become the best versions of themselves, which will support them throughout their lives, is truly incredible. Being part of that journey is a rewarding experience.
A special parabéns to Instrutora Toninha for having just received her purple (Instrutora) cord at the ABADÁ-Capoeira San Francisco Jogos Mundiais in Brazil!