Pastinha, Mestre, 1889-1981

Vicente Ferreira Pastinha (April 5, 1889, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil – November 13, 1981), known as Mestre Pastinha, was a mestre of the Afro-Brazilian martial art capoeira and a codifier of the traditional capoeira Angola style. Mestre Pastinha was a brilliant capoeirista whose game was characterized by agility, quickness and intelligence. He demonstrated that even in his seventies, he could engage in acrobatics and outperform much younger capoeiristas. He choose not to introduce new kicks in order to preserve the original art. He wanted his students to improve the principal techniques (jinga consisting os cotoveladas and as joelhadas, as negativas, as cabeçadas, as rasteiras, as rabo de arraias, as chapas which includes chapa de costa and chapa empurrando, as meia luas which includes meia lua de costa, os cutiladas de mão/hand strikes, corta capim, as tesouras, and as aús, which always ends with a rolê in the sequência), that allow a proper jogo de dentro (inner game) or ''jogo de forra'' (outside/upright) game to develop. Pastinha was known as the "philosopher of capoeira" because of his use of many aphorisms. He made it his mission to clearly separate capoeira Angola from the violence. Two principal Pastinha's disciples were mestres João Pequeno and João Grande.