Nestor Sezefredo dos Passos Neto is born in 1946 in Belo Horizonte. He was initiated in the art of Capoeira in 1965 by Mestre Leopoldina (Demerval Lopes de Lacerda, 1933-2007). In 1968 he joined the Senzala Capoeira Group of Rio de Janeiro, where he received his “red belt” (highest degree) in 1969. He has continued to teach in Brazil and abroad for 12 years. Alongside this, he graduated as an Engineer (UFRJ – Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, 1969), then completed an MA (ECO-UFRJ – School of Communication at UFRJ, 1995), a PhD (ECO-UFRJ, 2001) in Communication and Culture, and a Post doctorate at PUC/São Paulo (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo). He has written ten books about Capoeira (published by Ground, Record, Amazon, etc.) and some have been published in eight other countries (with overall more than 120,000 books sold).
