Rob Curry, known as Papagaio in Axé Capoeira, began training Capoeira when he was 18 years old, in Peterlee, County Durham in the North-East of England.
Rob first saw Capoeira in the film "Only the Strong" and was mesmerised by the exotic and acrobatic movements, and especially by the music. After watching the film countless times, he found out through his brother, who was training Aikido at the time, that there was a Capoeira class at the local College.
In August 1998, Rob began his Capoeira journey, a journey that would change his life forever. In 2006, he had the opportunity to travel to Rio de Janeiro to take part in a weeklong Capoeira encounter.
After 10 years of training Capoeira, he had the opportunity to train with Mestre Barrão - a master who's work he had followed since 2001 - in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey. It was at this event that Rob joined Axé Capoeira - travelling to Kingston every two weeks to continue his training and to develop the Axé style of Capoeira.
In August 2008, Papagaio spent 4 weeks training with Mestre Barrão in Recife, Brazil. When he returned to Newcastle he started to prepare to lead beginner classes wearing the Axé Capoeira t-shirt, under the guidance of Estagiário Marcus Cabeça and the supervision of Mestre Barrão.