Mestre João Grande is a former mestre capoeirista from Bahia who now teaches traditional capoeira angola in New York, where he has lived since 1990 and was a pioneer in spreading his art. Today he is a living heritage, with more than 60 years of dedication to capoeira. His journey, from Brazil to the United States, also tells a little of the story of the globalization of capoeira, which today is spread to more than 150 countries on five continents. Mestre João Grande's life story makes us wonder why capoeira angola is so widely accepted abroad and why it is resisted in Brazil. In this sense, his trajectory also helps us to understand how traditions and their respective actors remain in place in globalized modernity.