Today we’d like to introduce you to Betinho & Sara Conceicao.
Hi Betinho & Sara, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
The story began when we met 18 years ago in Deerfield Beach, at the gym where Betinho was teaching capoeira at the time. His vision to make a living helping others improve their lives with capoeira, just as capoeira had improved his, became immediately clear. Our shared passion for the art, and our confidence in each other’s and capoeira’s potential for growth and success, fueled our decision to relocate to Boynton Beach in order to plant our roots in a place that was completely new to our art form.
We found a few local places that took a chance with us, allowing us to teach in their space, and little by little our capoeira community was established and gaining momentum. After several years of teaching capoeira on evenings and weekends while we each had day jobs to make ends meet, we decided to take that next big step and focus all of our energy on growing our business and our family. In January of 2012, Just a few months before our first baby was born, we opened our first studio in a storefront on Boynton Beach Blvd. We worked hard to impact as many as possible with our work, adding after-school and summer camp programs to complement the kids and adults classes we already offered.
The positive and empowering community we were creating for our students, and our own children, motivated us to continue giving our all to keep improving and growing. Within 5 years, we outgrew our first studio and relocated to a different space in Boynton Beach almost three times the size. By the time 2020 rolled around, we had almost reached the same point again, at capacity, waiting lists for our programs, and full staff consisting of our first students who were by then instructors. We launched a Teen Leadership program and a non-profit 501(c)3 organization, the Capoeira Cultural Arts Foundation (CCAF) to expand our reach even more.
As soon as the pandemic began, we made the difficult choice to leave our studio and let go of our after school and camp programs. However, even with leaving our physical location and dealing with closure mandates, we never missed a beat – we switched immediately to offering capoeira classes daily on zoom for kids and adults, teaching out of our home garage that we quickly converted into a training and teaching space. Eventually, we began offering classes outdoors in local parks in addition to online classes. By November 2020, we had found our next location to call home, where we are today, inside the Boynton Beach Mall.
While we no longer offer after-school pickup, we do offer summer camp and daily classes for kids ages 3 and up, teens, and adults. The challenges and changes brought on by these unprecedented times offered an unexpected but much-needed opportunity for us to recharge, reflect, and redefine how we can best serve our community. We were able to deeply reconnect as a family and with the art of capoeira itself. We are very grateful to be where we are today, living a more balanced life, surrounded by family and friends who share our enthusiasm for taking better care of ourselves and each other.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There have been plenty of struggles along the way at different phases of our journey, all of which have been valuable lessons for our growth. In recent years, what stands out the most were when the lockdowns were announced in March of 2020, and we suddenly packed up and left our studio behind, letting go of our After School program and camps, of everything we had worked so hard to create, of what felt like such a normal and necessary part of our children’s and so many others’ day-to-day lives, of how we made a living for our family. The uncertainty of how we would be able to navigate our way forward while still being able to provide for our family and hold together our community challenged us to really dig deep, keep our faith, and stay positive.
The adversity continued during the next few years of the relentless pandemic. We were determined to find a way to provide consistent, quality training for our students despite not having a physical location for those first 8 months. We bounced around between local parks, at the whim of the weather forecast, while simultaneously conducting daily zoom sessions. Even after we secured a roof over our heads, the struggles pursued with the constantly changing safety guidelines, requiring us to continuously adapt and respond, respecting people’s need to feel safe while at the same time honoring what we knew to be true in our hearts…that human connection and consistency with practices that encourage physical and mental wellbeing, such as capoeira, were especially important during times of extreme loss, trauma, isolation, and fear.
The willingness of our students and families to stick with us and believe in the healing power of capoeira through all of the uncertainty and challenges motivated and inspired us to keep moving forward and trusting the outcome.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art that challenges you physically, mentally, and emotionally, while having fun in a playful, family-friendly environment. Mobility, strength, flexibility, and confidence will increase through training in challenging self-defense and acrobatic movements. Students also learn how to play traditional instruments and songs in Portuguese. This unique and dynamic practice is much more than a martial art. It is a powerful tool for community empowerment and cultural awareness. It inspires individuals and families to live a healthier, more joyful life. We are known for creating a space for people to feel good about themselves as they work hard to accomplish things they never believed they were capable of.
We are very proud of the welcoming and supportive cultural environment that accompanies Capoeira Karkara no matter what studio we have – or don’t have – or which program or class you participate in. The atmosphere speaks for itself when our own children, and many others, several of whose parents also train capoeira, want to be there every single day and never want to leave when class ends. Consistent training and dedication to this art form can truly transform your life and help you find your way to the best version of yourself alongside a welcoming and diverse community of family and friends.
We are proud to share that we recently made it to the top 3 with a chance to win “Best Karate/Martial Arts School” for Palm Beach County’s 2023 Best of the Best Award. The winner will be announced in the March 31st edition of the Palm Beach Post. However, we know that whether or not we “win” 1st place, we have already won by having the tremendous support of our community and by having come this far along on our journey as husband and wife, parents and business owners despite all of the obstacles and challenges along the way.
We’d love to hear what you think about risk-taking.
Had we not taken any risks, our story would have been completely different. It was risky to believe that we could make a living teaching something that was completely new and unfamiliar in Boynton Beach at the time we arrived. It was a big risk to open our own studio after Betinho lost his job due to the economic crash. I was 6 months pregnant and had a job that I truly loved. Betinho’s relentless passion and trust in his art and positive fearless mindset drove our decision to embrace uncertainty, let go of all other streams of income, and trust that everything would be ok. It was a huge risk to move to a different location 5 years later that was not visible to any main road, in an industrial area, and would require us to trust people would find us by word of mouth or through the internet only. Another tremendous risk was leaving that location and attempting to continue conducting business during a pandemic with no physical location. Also very risky was letting go of our After School program and trusting that enough people would still come. Taking risks is a necessary part of the journey to growth and success.
We never would have discovered many things about ourselves and each other along the way had we not taken chances, trusting that the outcome would lead us to where we needed to be next, no matter what or how that looked like. That fearful voice inside, telling you all the things that could possibly go wrong can halter progress and hold you back from reaching your highest potential and experiencing joy and fulfillment in this lifetime if you let it guide your actions.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.capoeirakarkara.
com - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/capoeirakarkara - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/capoeirakarkara - Youtube: https://www.youtube.
com/capoeirakarkara - Other: https://www.instagram.
com/capoeiracaf/
Image Credits
Debra Herrick and Mestre Betinho
