My 5-year-old daughter and I tagged along to a kid’s capoeira class on Saturday afternoon at the East Gate Plaza (Donghuan Guangchang, 东环广场) at Dongsishitiao.
These weekly kids’ classes will be held every Saturday from 4-5pm from now until June 22 and is an especially great way for your kids to get some indoor exercise when it’s too hazy outside.
We enjoyed a complimentary first session, led by advanced student Federica Tagliabue (who was filling in for the vacationing Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha Morena), which started out with a series of fun warm-up games of tag incorporating various capoeira style movements before the session proceeded into more structured foot movement and cartwheel drills.
My daughter was a bit shy at first but was soon drawn in by all the running and screaming during the warm-up tag games – before long she was spinning around on the wooden dance-floor with the rest of the students.
Parents are welcome to observe and there is a nice waiting area in the lobby of the basement level fitness center where the classes are held. As with the sport/martial art itself, these classes are decidedly casual and newcomers are free to pop in and check it out. The first class is free and each session is RMB 100 – you can also sign up for longer packages of classes and pay RMB 80 per session. Check the capoeirabeijing website for contact details and class times and if you really want a workout you can stick around for the adult sessions from 5-6pm.
CapoeiraBeijing Kids Classes
Saturdays 4-5pm. B1，East Gate Plaza Block B， 29 Dongzhong Street. Subway Line 2, Dongsishitiao or Dongzhimen, Dongcheng District.
B1, B座, 东环广场, 东中街29号, 2号线地铁东直门／东四十条.
Correction: Mestre Marcelo Caveirinha is the head of group but only comes to Beijng a few times a year. Morena is the usual instructor of CapoeiraBeijing classes.
