Mestre Perna (Márcio Lourenço de Araújo) started capoeira at the age of 10 with Mestres Baixinho and Marrom. He began to develop his own work by giving capoeira classes in the garage of his mother's house. Later, he opened his own academy, Castilho, where he worked with children and teenagers from the outskirts of São Paulo. Today these children have grown up and continue his work.

In 2002 Mestre Perna accepted an invitation to teach capoeira on the other side of the Atlantic and moved to Bremen, Germany. In 2004 he founded his own academy, O Cazuá, which has become a reference center for Capoeira Angola in Europe.