Mestre Paulão

Paulão is one of the "three Ps" (Pinatti, Paulão, Paulo Limão) who co-founded the Academia de Capoeira São Bento Pequeno on August 1, 1969, in São Paulo. The academy was located near the Ana Rosa metro station in the Vila Mariana district.

The founding came about through friendship: Mestre Limão, who had arrived in São Paulo in 1969 with Mestre Caiçara to record an LP, met Mestre Pinatti and consolidated a friendship. Together with Paulão, they were invited to open an academy. This partnership united three distinct backgrounds: Pinatti, a native paulista who had studied capoeira from Lamartine Pereira da Costa's book before training under Zé de Freitas; Limão, a Bahian Angoleiro trained by Mestre Caiçara in Santo Amaro da Purificação; and Paulão, whose background and training remain undocumented.

The Academia São Bento Pequeno became notable for its "Capoeira Angolinha" style—an eclectic approach that bridged Regional and Angola traditions. The academy developed an innovative graduation system using pants colors instead of cordas: black for novice, green for baptized, yellow for intermediate, blue for advanced, and white for the Master.

In 1970, Limão left the partnership to found his own academy, Academia Quilombo dos Palmares, on Avenida Morumbi. The subsequent history of Paulão's involvement with São Bento Pequeno is not documented in available sources. Pinatti continued leading the academy for decades, training over 180 students across seven generations.

Unlike Limão (whose dramatic life and tragic death in 1985 are well documented) and Pinatti (who maintained an extensive archive and was still active in 2010), Paulão appears in historical records only as a co-founder, with no additional biographical details preserved.