Mestre Vilmar

Vilmar Brito Cruz grew up in Olaria, a suburb in the northern zone of Rio de Janeiro. As a young man, he witnessed capoeira at the IAPC (Instituto de Aposentadoria e Pensões dos Comerciários) Residential Complex Community Centre, where Mestre Djalma Bandeira had established his academy. Vilmar became one of Djalma Bandeira's students - a master he would later describe as "one of the best capoeira masters that a suburb of Rio de Janeiro has ever produced".

A pivotal moment in Vilmar's early capoeira career came in 1961 when he was eighteen years old. As he recalled: "Until the age of eighteen I had never seen capoeira in a samba school, and when Xangô da Mangueira arrived there at the IAPC, I did not know him. He spoke to Leopoldina to get three or four people to parade in an ala of Mangueira, at a time when samba schools did not allow people from outside to parade".

Mestre Leopoldina, who was well-known for his charisma, selected Vilmar along with others from Djalma's group to participate in this historic carnival parade. Mangueira's theme that year was "Reminiscências do Velho Rio" (Reminiscences of the Old Rio), and they won the competition. This was the first time a samba school included capoeira in its parade, giving the art unprecedented visibility in Rio de Janeiro.

For Vilmar, a young man from the suburbs, the experience was transformative: "A little black boy from the Olaria neighbourhood, to wear a costume of Mangueira! My mother was very proud!" The parade took place on President Vargas avenue, from Central Brazil Station to the Candelária church, and the capoeiristas received costumes and payment.

Beyond capoeira, Vilmar pursued a career as a journalist, earning him the combined title "mestre-jornalista" (master-journalist). He is described as a family man and "essentially honest person" by those who know him.

After some years away from active teaching, Vilmar returned to conducting capoeira classes, focusing particularly on special populations. His workshops at the INSS building in the IAPC Residential Complex serve students with Down syndrome, paraplegia, and other conditions. Capoeira historian André Lacé Lopes wrote that Vilmar's classes bring "parents of students with Down syndrome, paraplegia, or effects of meningitis to tears of pure emotion" through the remarkable results achieved in both body and spirit.

His students include people being prepared to become instructors - Professor Luciano, Instrutor Fábio, Estrada, and Abelha - as well as older women with capoeira names that reflect their personalities: Arlegre (a woman named Arlete who smiled so much at her own efforts and good results that she was baptized with this playful name combining her name with "alegre"/happy), Japonesa, Imperatriz, Madameponpadour, Maçachocolate, and Basti, who was 83 years old.

Vilmar concerns himself with "training trainers, forming masters to expand and continue his excellent work". His teaching philosophy embodies a unified approach to capoeira, eschewing the divisive labels of "angola or regional" that have often fragmented the community.

He was featured in a "literatura de cordel" (traditional Brazilian folk literature) booklet that was launched at Circo Voador in Lapa, Rio de Janeiro, and also included in a French version released in Paris. As André Lacé Lopes wrote: "Vilmar does not travel to Paris, Europe, or the United States - Paris comes to Vilmar". Though he missed opportunities to see the world, the author noted that "the world loses much more by not knowing Vilmar's capoeira".

In 2010, Vilmar da Cruz Brito qualified for the "Prêmio Viva Meu Mestre" (Long Live My Master Award), an IPHAN (National Historical and Artistic Heritage Institute) award recognizing capoeira masters aged 55 or older "whose life trajectory has fundamentally contributed to the transmission and continuity of Capoeira in Brazil".