Mestre Danadinho

Cláudio José Queiroz, known as Mestre Danadinho (and earlier as "Claudio Brasília"), is one of the founding mestres of Grupo Senzala and a pioneering figure who brought capoeira to the Federal District of Brazil. Born in Paraíba, he arrived in Brasília in 1961 at age 13, coming from Petrópolis with his family who settled in Super Quadra 209 Sul—a housing block for military families.

In the early 1960s, Danadinho began training capoeira in Brasília under the influence of Mestre Arraia (Aldenor Benjamim), who had trained with masters in Salvador including exposure to both Mestre Pastinha and Mestre Bimba's traditions. At the Colégio Elefante Branco, young capoeiristas gathered to train, with Danadinho among them alongside Hélio Tabosa (later Mestre Tabosa) and Alfredo "Fritz"—friends who would later help Grupo Senzala win the Berimbau de Ouro competition.

In 1964, while visiting a Judo academy in Brasília, Itamar (later Mestre Itamar) discovered that Cláudio also practiced capoeira. They began training together. That summer, when Cláudio traveled to Rio de Janeiro, he trained with Itamar in the courtyard of Itamar's building in the Lapa neighborhood—an early seed of what would become Grupo Senzala.

In 1965, Danadinho joined the nascent Senzala group in Rio de Janeiro along with Peixinho and Itamar, becoming one of its core members. The founding nucleus included the three Flores brothers from Bahia (Paulo, Rafael, and Gilberto), plus Gato, Gil Velho, Garrincha, Preguiça, and Sorriso—teenagers who had been training together on the terrace of their apartment building in the Laranjeiras district since 1963.

During 1966, at a demonstration at a German Club in Rio, the group first introduced themselves as "Grupo Senzala"—the name referencing the slave quarters where enslaved people were held, a deliberate political and cultural statement connecting capoeira to Brazil's history of resistance.

In 1967, with the help of Tabosa and Fritz from Brasília, Senzala entered the Berimbau de Ouro competition. Their pairs won that year and again the following year, establishing the group's reputation. Danadinho also spent approximately one year training in Salvador at the Olondu Maré group, an experience that contributed strongly to the construction of Senzala's training methodology.

Beyond capoeira, Danadinho became a distinguished architect. He studied architecture in Rio de Janeiro, worked with Oscar Niemeyer in Algeria, and served as superintendent of IPHAN (Brazil's heritage institute). He became a professor of architecture at the Universidade de Brasília (UnB) and wrote his doctoral thesis on the relationship between capoeira and architecture.

Danadinho was the first to teach capoeira in the public schools of the Federal District, including at Colégio Elefante Branco where he had once trained. His teaching protected student activist Honestino Guimarães during the military dictatorship—an incident that led him to relocate to Rio de Janeiro for 17 years before eventually returning to Brasília.

Today, Mestre Danadinho remains one of the 17 active cordas vermelhas (red cords) of Grupo Senzala, alongside Paulo Flores, Gato, Gil Velho, Garrincha, Sorriso, Itamar, and others. He travels internationally lecturing on Brasília, Oscar Niemeyer, Lucio Costa, and capoeira—connecting the architecture of Brazil's capital with its Afro-Brazilian martial art.