Jared Williams

Jared Williams (Leopardo) was first exposed to capoeira in 1997. He began training capoeira regional in earnest in 2002 with Mandingueiros dos Palmares under Mestre Chuvisco in Boston with whom he trained for 12 years. He received his Graduado cord in 2008 and began teaching. In 2024 he officially joined Grupo Capoeira Brasil under Mestra Joy.  He is grateful for ALL of his teachers and honors their generosity and work in helping him along his capoeira path.

As a teacher and player, Leopardo believes that every student should feel important and encouraged to work hard regardless of their goals within capoeira. He works hard to cultivate healthy dedication and love for capoeira, community and the self, all of which are central to being a good capoeirista.

Though his capoeira journey has been long and often winding, he is deeply grateful for the ways in which capoeira has informed his movement, his understanding of the world, and has brought him such a huge community of friends and family. Jared is also a visual artist (RISD 1995), a father, and director of the Field Center, a center for contemporary dance and performance practices in southern Vermont.