. >> reporter: and marcia treidler is one of the best at teaching it. in fact she is the first woman to hold the title of mestra "cigarra." it started in brazil. slaves from africa mingled with portugese colonized the country. >> they allowed the slaves after hours to practice music, drumming, singing, dance. so they found this amazing way to preserve the culture and create this art form that today is respected all over the world series. -- all over the world. >> reporter: marcia has been teaching for 35 years. the past 25 at her nonprofit studio called abada-capoiera in san francisco's mission district. in order to teach more than 20,000 students each year, she also takes classes into schools all over the bay area. >> all over the place, san jose, santa clara, oakland, berkeley. so we us will have a performance group who go to the schools and do that type of work. >> reporter: reaching students like alazan flores who was not quite three years old when she was introduced to capoeira. >> so my mom is there and she said you know what? here's strong women,

. >> reporter: and mestra "cigarra" marcia treidler, slaves from africa mingled with portugese colonized country. >> they now the slaves after hours practice music, drumming, singing, dance. so they found this amazing way to preserve the culture and create this artform that today is respected all over the world series. >> reporter: marcia has been teaching for 35 years. the past 25 at her nonprofit studio called abada-capoiera in san francisco's mission district. in order to teach more than 20,000 students each year, she also takes classes into schools all over the bay area. >> all over the place, san jose, santa clara, oakland, berkeley. so we us will have a performance group who go to the schools and do that type of work. >> reporter: reaching students like alazan flores who was not quite three years old when she was introduced to capoeira. >> so my mom is there and she said you know what? here's strong women, good example, i wanted my daughter to hang out with them. >> reporter: 20 years later, alazan is one of marcia's teachers. so is elias gonzalez. >> i wanted to try something diff