Translation into English: Shayna McHugh
Source: Revista Capoeira
Mestre Mão Branca: “The word ‘Mestre’ is very strong. The Mestre is a symbol, a guide. It’s not just the great capoeirista or one who is untouchable in the roda, but someone who works for the benefit of capoeira and its place in society. To be Mestre is to take on a responsibility with the art that you love. For this, one must respect the hierarchy, with the philosophy and roda experience.”
Mestre Nacional: ”I think that the first thing is to persist in humility, leave vanity to the side and participate in more of the traditional capoeira rodas. There’s no such thing as the ‘best,’ there only exists he who does capoeira with his heart.”
Mestre Baiano Anzol: “To be Mestre it is necessary to have at least 10-12 years of research, training, and discoveries. Capoeira involves your feelings, your sensibilities, and becomes part of your life.”
Mestre Celso: “To become a Capoeira Mestre you need time in Capoeira, work, and age; because a 20-year-old kid without experience, what is he going to teach others? One must be educated and pass on this education.”
Mestre Camisa: ”Work and time are necessary. No one can be a Capoeira Mestre if they are under 40 years old. One must have life experience; one must live with capoeira and be an excellent capoeirista.”
Mestre Hulk: “One must train for a good long time, have knowledge of everything that Capoeira involves in all its aspects (games, history, culture…), know how to give lectures about capoeira, teach humility, have life experience and good conduct as a citizen. Know how to be a good citizen.”
Mestre Joel: “One must train and have at least 15 years in capoeira. One must understand that being a Capoeira instructor means one is a professional; one must have awareness, be Brazilian and take care of this sport, which is the best sport we have and is already spread throughout the world.”
Mestre Açapê: ”The capoeirista must be at least 30 years old and know how to enter wherever he is called.”
Mestre Suassuna: ”A Capoeira Mestre must be a special person; it can’t be just anyone who gives capoeira classes who becomes a mestre. Mestre must be a person who is consecrated by the people, both the people in capoeira and the people in general, because of the work he does. The Mestre is someone who represents the father or mother of the student, the teacher of the student. The student trusts him a lot. It’s the guy who coordinates a social life and has a very great influence in the maturing process of a boy, of a young person. There’s no established time for a capoeirista to become Mestre. But if I had to describe a profile, a Mestre should be at least 50 years old, and have participated actively in Capoeira and in its problems.”
Mestre Ananias: ”To be a Capoeira Mestre you have to have many years in capoeira. One can be called Mestre when one is at least 40 or 50 years old. It’s not overnight that you become a Capoeira Mestre. Today we see a ton of young kids who don’t even know how to tune a berimbau, or even respond to the berimbau’s call, and they’re said to be Mestres; they don’t know how to play instruments at all! It’s a shame, so I say that these people should return to the academy and re-learn everything that they forgot! Inside them, you only see toughness, trickery, and nothing else. One must also have clean work with Capoeira.”
Mestre Suíno: “Today what’s happening is that first the person becomes Mestre of his Group and then later he obtains recognition of the capoeira community as a whole. So inside each Group, the Mestre sets the curriculum. The Mestre must have a little didactic education, know a bit about child psychology, also know a little of first aid in order to be able to help a person who has an accident, and mainly aim to study, thus having scholarly graduation because today society is requiring this. The requirements are a little stricter to be a Capoeira Mestre today; it’s not just learning Capoeira but diving deep into it, having a serious purpose, and not being a wishy-washy person who today believes one thing and tomorrow believes something else. One must have a solid base in the fundamental principles of Capoeira so that one doesn’t become gullible in Capoeira. To be a Capoeira Mestre today, it’s not good enough to just be a teacher; one must also be an educator, a person who does in practice what he says in theory. One must be a Mestre 24 hours a day and not just during the necessary hours. Because a Mestre today is a person with influence in Society, with weighty knowledge.”
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