Jorge Valente, known as "Volta Grande", was a young student of Mestre Bimba whose time in capoeira, although brief, left a deep mark on the Academy's memory. Talented, loved by his colleagues and passionate about the art, Volta Grande died tragically at the age of 17, but his story lives on through the accounts of the mestres who lived with him - especially Mestre Xaréu.

According to Mestre Xaréu, one morning Mestre Bimba showed up at his house asking him to accompany him to the morgue: Volta Grande had died during training the night before. The episode probably took place after 1968, because up until July 28, 1968, the young man still appears in photographs of Mestre Bimba's caravan in Teófilo Otoni (MG).

On his way to the morgue, Mestre Bimba passed Mestre Itapoan's house, who also accompanied the visit. There, Itapoan went inside to check the details and confirmed the results of the autopsy:
pulmonary edema caused by cardiac hypertrophy.

At the wake, the young man's mother, Brasiliana Valente, revealed something that her colleagues didn't know:
Volta Grande had a congenital heart condition. Doctors had already warned her about the seriousness of the condition and his low life expectancy. So she chose to raise him in complete freedom, allowing her son to live each day intensely - and so he did.

Volta Grande loved sports and had a special passion for capoeira. His fellow members of the academy paid tribute to him during his funeral, and Mestre Medicina wrote a chronicle in his memory in the magazine Notícias Esportivas, entitled "Volta Grande's last lap".

Credits: 11 stories from Mestre Bimba's academy. Hélio José Bastos Carneiro de Campos (mestre Xaréu).

Text: Antônio Luiz Campos (Boa Alma)