Mestre Onça

Airton Neves Moura, known as Mestre Onça, was a certified disciple of Mestre Bimba who played a pivotal role in establishing Capoeira Regional in São Paulo.

A native of Bahia, Onça trained directly under Mestre Bimba at the Centro de Cultura Física e Luta Regional in Salvador, learning the fundamentals of the Regional style that Bimba had codified. He became one of the mestres who carried Bimba's teachings beyond Bahia.

In 1968, Onça co-founded the K-Poeira academy in São Paulo with Mestre Acordeon (Ubirajara Guimarães Almeida), establishing one of the first formal Regional capoeira training centers in Brazil's largest city. The academy was located in downtown São Paulo. There, Onça taught the fundamentals of Capoeira Regional to students including Gladson de Oliveira Silva, who would become Mestre Gladson and go on to introduce capoeira at USP.

In 1971, Onça organized a significant tribute to Mestre Bimba in São Paulo. At his invitation, Bimba traveled to the city to be honored by São Paulo's capoeiristas and received the title of Honorary President of K-Poeira. During this visit, Bimba symbolically recognized a group of mestres as the "Percursores da Capoeira em São Paulo" (Pioneers of Capoeira in São Paulo)—the famous "Grupo dos Nove" (Group of Nine): Suassuna, Brasília, Joel, Gilvan, Limão, Silvestre, Pinatti, Zé de Freitas, and Airton Onça himself.

Preoccupied with the legitimization of capoeira, Onça became the main organizer of the Federação Paulista de Capoeira (São Paulo Capoeira Federation), which was founded on July 14, 1974—the first capoeira federation in the world. He served as its first president. The eight founding associations were: K'Poeira, São Bento Pequeno, São Bento Grande, Cordão de Ouro, Quilombo dos Palmares, Vera Cruz, Ilha de Itapuã, and the academy led by Mestre Zé de Freitas.

In 1975, the Federation organized the "First Brazilian Championship" of capoeira, establishing competitive capoeira with formal rules and regulations. Onça supported this institutionalization, stating in a 1984 interview with Jornal Auxiliar: "Capoeira needs to evolve as a sport and not as folklore, respecting its roots".

Onça participated in the 2nd edition of the Clínica de Capoeira at CEPEUSP (Centro de Práticas Esportivas da Universidade de São Paulo) from October 6-8, 1989, alongside legendary mestres including João Grande and João Pequeno. He conducted a workshop on "Capoeira Regional: Ritmo e Tradição" (Regional Capoeira: Rhythm and Tradition) with Mestre Ezequiel.

His legacy continues through his students and through the Prêmio Comendador Mestre Airton Neves Moura (Mestre Onça), established by the São Roque Municipal Chamber in 2016 to honor capoeira practitioners for their community work.