Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola · C.E.C.A –

The institution was founded in 1941 by Mestre Pastinha in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. In the same decade, João Pereira dos Santos enrolls at the CECA, is appointed the academy’s trainer, and continues to teach Capoeira Angola to all the capoeiristas who enrolled there, until the passing of Mestre Pastinha.

Mestre Pastinha, before he died in 1981, uttered a phrase, “João, I’m going to die, take care of this. Only the body dies, the spirit lives forever”. For this reason, in 1982, Mestre João Pequeno de Pastinha  (1917 – 2011) founds his own academy in Salvador, in forte de Santo Antônio além do Carmo with the name: “Academia de João Pequeno de Pastinha – Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola”.

Mestre Faísca , disciple of Mestre João Pequeno de Pastinha, guided by him to keep the CECA alive, and the name of his academy, he named his institution based in the Vale das Pedrinhas community, in the neighborhood of Rio Vermelho, as: “CEDANZE · Academia João Pequeno de Pastinha – Centro Esportivo de Capoeira Angola”, and today he coordinates and supervises centers from CEDANZE · AJJP-CECA in several cities in Brazil and Europe.