Mestre Gato

Julival do Espírito Santo, known as Mestre Gato de Silvestre, was born on December 30, 1952, in the state of Goiás. His first contact with capoeira came through his uncle Milton Freire de Carvalho (Mestre Onça Tigre), one of Mestre Bimba's most distinguished students and the pioneer who established capoeira in the Federal District in 1964. This family connection planted the seed of capoeira in the young Julival.

Later, in Brasília, he studied under Cláudio Danadinho, one of the founders of Grupo Senzala who had trained with Mestre Arraia—himself a student of Mestre Pastinha. This gave Gato exposure to the Angola tradition through a Senzala lens. But it was in São Paulo that his capoeira formation took definitive shape under Silvestre Vitório Ferreira (Mestre Silvestre), founder of Associação de Capoeira Vera Cruz. Silvestre was one of the rare capoeiristas who had studied under Waldemar da Liberdade, Pastinha, Bimba, and Caiçara—the four legendary masters of Bahia—making his lineage exceptionally rich.

Through Vera Cruz, Gato became the São Paulo State Capoeira Champion in 1971, while also teaching classes in Ribeirão Preto and other municipalities of São Paulo. That same year, he formed a capoeira group at the University of São Paulo and traveled to Bolivia, Colombia, and Panama to spread capoeira, becoming an early international ambassador of the art.

In June 1972, attracted by the migration wave driven by the Manaus Free Trade Zone, Julival arrived in Manaus, Amazonas. His motivation was both practical and spiritual: "I always had a fascination with the Amazon, with the natives, with their traditions, cultural diversity, and with medicinal plants". But the acceptance was far from easy. "It was very difficult until I had built the first capoeira academy in Manaus", he later recalled.

His first student in Manaus was Édson Colyer Brás da Silva, known as "Spartacus" (July 12, 1951 – November 11, 1977), a vale-tudo and catch-as-catch-can fighter who brought Gato to teach at Clube Náutico Portugal. Soon after, others enrolled: Américo Omena, Fernando Lopes (a police delegate), the Dantas brothers (Marcos, Maurício, and Almir), the fighter Carrasco Cearense, Magriça, Paulinho, Marcolino Salgado, Fernando Lemos de Almeida, Newton Ferreira Filho, and the brothers Wallace and José Wilson Cavalcante.

In February 1972, he founded the Academia de Capoeira Zumbí dos Palmares—the first capoeira academy in the state of Amazonas. This definitively established "capoeira with berimbau" in the Amazon region. The academy was located in a historic building with hardwood floors made of black and yellow sucupira that had previously served as headquarters for the União dos Estudantes Secundaristas do Amazonas (UESA). The building was demolished in 1980 to make way for a parking lot, but by then the seeds Gato had planted were already spreading throughout the region.

At the end of the 1970s, Mestre Silvestre traveled to Manaus to participate in the I Encontro de Capoeira da Amazônia (First Amazon Capoeira Meeting), where he awarded Julival the title of Mestre through the Associação de Capoeira Vera Cruz—recognition of his pioneering work in bringing capoeira to a region where it had been virtually unknown.

Today, Mestre Gato resides in Presidente Figueiredo, a municipality in Amazonas known for its waterfalls and connection to the Amazon rainforest. He continues to carry out community work with children, emphasizing "humility and love of nature" alongside capoeira education. His choice of Presidente Figueiredo reflects the values that first drew him to the Amazon half a century ago.

On June 25, 2011, Mestre Gato became one of 78 capoeira mestres to receive the Prêmio Viva Meu Mestre from Brazil's Ministry of Culture—national recognition for masters aged 55 and older whose life trajectories have contributed fundamentally to transmitting and preserving capoeira as a living cultural tradition.

A critical analysis of 49 years of "capoeira with berimbau" in Amazonas reveals the depth of Gato's legacy: from his pioneering arrival in 1972, the state has developed 81 established mestres, 90 capoeira organizations, relationships with more than 40 social, artistic, and scientific categories, and connections with over 100 public and private institutions. Capoeira has spread across all social classes and age groups in the region—a transformation that began with one man's fascination with the Amazon and determination to plant capoeira in its soil.