Big City Sleep to Highlight Brazilian Street Children

A charity is organising a 12 hour sleepathon overnight at Spitalfields Market to raise money, and awareness, for the street children and vulnerable young people in Brazil.

City workers are invited to get involved by stepping out of their comfort zone and “swap their comfortable beds for cardboard boxes” for the night.

The event is being organised by the ABC Trust (Action for Brazil’s Children) and they will be arranging a mix of Brazilian themed entertainment on the night including live music and a performance from the East London Capoeira group.

Each participant will be aiming to raise at least £150 in sponsorship money, with the ABC Trust hoping to raise a minimum of of £15,000 to help provide basic provisions for street children this Christmas.

Andrew Webb – CEO of ABC Trust said “It is vital that people understand that this is not an attempt to undermine or trivialise the issues that street children face, and in no way is it aiming to recreate the everyday life of a Brazilian street child.  The aim of the ‘Big City Sleep’ is to show members of the public what some aspects of life are like for those children who live on the streets in Brazil, the difference is that participants in the ‘Big City Sleep’ can go back to their own comforts and normal life the following day.”

Toby Brown, Spitalfields Estate Director “We are delighted to support the ABC Trust; by using Spitalfields’ public space to host the Big City Sleep fundraising event we are helping to raise awareness and money for some of worlds most vulnerable children”.

To take part in the ‘Big City Sleep’ or for more information, please get in touch: Reference – Big City Sleep, email – lydia.stevens@abctrust.org.uk, or phone: 0207 287 3818

Try Capoeira…

With the influx of cultures to London one significant, but perhaps less prominent, addition is that of the Brazilians who come to London though I can’t always see what the appeal of our grey metropolis has over the sandy beaches and tanned bodies of Brazil. One manifestation of this is the challenging Brazilian sport of Capoeira which could be best described as an acrobatic fight so if you’ve spent your life thinking that Jackie Chan has all the best moves then you need to see the Capoeristas in action. As a sport it’s very relaxed, being played to traditional Brazilian berimbau music, and is played with the same flair as their football is best known for with cartwheels, somersaults and assorted acrobatic movements.

Capoeira is predominantly a non-contact sport but each school has a grading, or batizado, each year where the students play against the Mestres (masters) and the object of the exercise is for the student to demonstrate his skills and ultimately for one to put the other on the floor. These batizados occur a different times of year for the many different schools across London and are usually followed by some kind of party so are very much a social event with lots of fun to be had and reflect on the relaxed side of Brazilian life, though the sport itself has its roots in slavery several hundred years ago.

Anyway, on Saturday I was at the batizado of the ACER Capoeira school in Kingston and there was the usual mix of students from small children to adults with everyone keen to show of their stuff and I’ve got a video for you as a taster which starts with Mestre Celso, one of the oldest practicing Mestres, showing everyone what he expects then the action starts and for a finale one of the teachers seems to take offence to one of the students responses to a kick in the chest…

It’s a lot of fun and is one heck of a workout so if you’re looking for a martial art that’s fun and different then give one of the classes below a try and if you’re looking for some fit, toned and tanned bodies to party with check out when there’s a batizado on. Me? I got my corda verde (green belt) last year.

ACER Capoeira – Associação de Capoeira Engenho da Rainha
South London & Surrey
http://www.acer-uk.com

CDOL – Cordão de Ouro London
Classes across London from Whitechapel to Fulham Broadway
http://www.cdol.co.uk

Axe Capoeira
South and South-West London and Surrey
http://www.axecapoeirauk.com/

Capoeira Palmares
London City and Surrey
http://www.capoeirapalmares.co.uk/

Search Google for Capoeira in London
http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=capoeira+london&meta=&aq=f&oq=