CAPOEIRA

HOW THE PROGRAM STARTED ?

Summer 2022, two months of vacations out of school… no activities for the youth… then we remembered how some of our boys enjoyed practising capoeira at local club Uni-Art in São João, few years earlier…

A phone call to the “mestre” in charge of Uni-Art, and the deal was done : they will start capoeira lessons in our neighborhood, and create an extension of their own club.

After talking to the families, they agreed to send their children to the club…

THE MANY BENEFITS OF CAPOEIRA

We believe in the many virtues of capoeira on a personal level, such as :

• Develop coordination and agility
• Gain in self confidence
• Express creativity
• Learn how to defend oneself

And on a social level :

• Learn a new cultural tradition
• Protect and teach the youngers
• Spirit of competition and fair play

OPENING HOURS

The capoeira classes are every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 9 am until 11 am. Once every months, they join the main Uni-Art group for sessions on Saturday afternoon.

STARTING FROM SCRATCH

What an exciting challenge ! All the participants are new to capoeira, children aging 7 to 15 years old… After the first classes, some kids have shown more interest than others and they now train on a regular basis…

NEWCOMERS AND GIRLS JOINING

In São Tomé, lots of boys are out in the streets while girls stay at home helping with the house chores… One of our goal is to get girls to join the capoeira program… This worked well, during the first weeks, while we had a female teacher.. Now that she traveled to Portugal we are struggling again…. But hopefully we will find another one very soon… Check our blog for more info..

PERFORMANCE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Uni-Art elders, students and other capoeira friends joined together to make a capoeira show  in the Bairro do Hospital.. An excellent way to promote our activity and to show the parents what their children are doing at the capoeira club, and what “brasilian culture” they are learning !

Another great day ! More people aware, more people involved !

CLUB CELEBRATION IN MAY 2023

In order to celebrate the club´s activities, and to mark the progression of the students, we organize once or twice a year a baptism celebration, where family members and friends are invited.

According to their technical level and dedication to the trainings,  the students will receive belts of color from : yellow,  orange and blue will be distributed this year.

A special thanks to Sofia from France, who bought the ropes and the tints, and another special thanks to Chloé and her husband, also from France, who managed to bring the ropes when they visited us in March !

GREAT CELEBRATION AND MOTIVATED STUDENTS

Thanks to our volunteer Lucas, the May celebration went super well. The children and the teachers took advantage of the ceremony to paint the training area : colorful circle on the ground, flying decoration in the air, and of course, São Tomé, Portugal and Brazil flags !

Students and teachers from other Capoeira groups joined in the activity and 15 children got awarded with a colored rope (the equivalent of a belt in other martial arts), which reflects the students dedication to learning capoeira !

A great day ! Thank you all !