Mestre Azulão

Mestre Azulão (real name: Célio Ferreira da Silva) is a Brazilian capoeira mestre (master). He was born in the city of Araci in the interior of Salvador, Bahia.

He took up the practice of capoeira in the early 1970s, at the Senzala Capoeira Center, directed by Mestre Camisa, where he took part in several shows, including Cantos and Dança da Terra. He also acted in Brazilian films such as Quilombo dos Palmares and Quizumba, and appeared in feature films like Carnaval no Brasil, as well as soap operas like Fogo Sobre Terra and Helena.

Mestre Azulão traveled through several countries, including Canada (Montreal, Quebec, and Toronto), with the group Brasil Tropical, remaining with them for a four-month tour. He again traveled abroad two months later with the same group, this time to France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany (Munich, Hamburg, and Frankfurt). Afterward he traveled to the Caribbean, where he spent a year in Aruba with the group Sam Brasil Dance & Cia. After that, he was invited to go to Venezuela in 1983 to participate in the International Year of Karate Kempo Youth Cup, with the biggest names in the martial arts: Ed Park (karate), Jhon Rhei (9th dan in tae kwon do), sensei Arturo Petit (6th dan in kempo), and Manoel Reyes (5th dan in kempo). There, he was one of the forerunners in the practice of capoeira in Venezuela.

He returned to Brazil for about a year, where he made several tours through various Brazilian stadiums in cultural performance groups and companies.

At the invitation of Brasil Tropical, he went on tour again in Germany, then spent a year in Spain (Tenerife) with the group Ritmo Brasil. On returning to Brazil, he ran classes in several places such as the Belford Roxo Country Club among other training establishments, clubs, and academies for several years.

These events include:

• First workshop in capoeira da baixada at the Iguaçu Sports Club
• 1º Encontro Feminino de Capoeira da Baixada realizado na Praça Santos Drummond - Nova Iguaçu
• "A Night in Bahia" program at the Danceteria Skandalus in Nova Iguaçu
• Black Awareness Day—History of Capoeira, in the Praça da Liberdade, Nova Iguaçu

Thus he became one of the pioneers in the growth of capoeira in the city of Nova Iguaçu.