The new look Academy put a smile on my face.

Come to think of it, stepping into the Academy always does. But seeing it with a new coat of paint, well you know, it’s a little like seeing your wife for many years put on a new sexy dress.

‘Now come make sweet love to me’ I almost hear the Academy whisper oh-so-softly.

And just as you take off your shoes and step into class, you see a note on the whiteboard, written in that all-too-familiar juvenile scrawl that can only be Quek or Rafael’s handiwork ‘NO CLASS TILL 4^th JANUARY’

Heartbroken, you run off into the sunset, hell-bent on having an affair with all the other loves of your lives. Holidays, parties, slacking around.

And then by the time you come back, you look like an out of shape couch potato. You stare at the naked Academy mirror. Bathed in the warm glow of throbbing yellow (that’s the walls). And you say to yourself, ‘It’s not my fault! I was just taking a break!’

Don’t worry. The Academy won’t judge you. You’ll do that for yourself. Specially after you see the rest of the crew walk in and you wondered out loud, ‘How come THEY still look fine/hot/sexy/fit?’

Well, it’s down to maintenance. Different people have different maintenance needs. Here are a few rumours I’ve heard from different people. I’m not sure if it’s true or not, but you guys can ask them yourselves.

Cueca – He does as many situps as Christiano Ronaldo. That’s 3500 a day. ‘If I can’t look like him, I can at least have his abs!’ Cueca uses his free time, epecially during a break to just do any form of simple exercise in between his celebrations.

Rafa – The academy is closed for classes! But that doesn’t mean my heart and body is closed! And so, Rafa is spotted in the park, at the gym and probably in the academy as well. As he puts it, ‘eu sou Bantus capoeira’ means that you never forget for a moment that you are a Bantus capoeirista. And all the training and preparation that comes with it.

Coelho – is very Chinese so he doesn’t celebrate Christmas and is actually working this Merry Season. He secretly stretches with splits in the lifts, calve lifts when waiting for people, and does ab crunches wherever he walks. Also has one meal of non-sugared cereal a day (he’s a rabbit after all)

The bottom line is. Party Hard. But Prepare Harder. The new look Academy has never looked sexier. Make sure you don’t disappoint when you return to her.

And if you do have any off-season training tips and techniques of your own, no matter how weird, wild or stupid, (the funniest one gets a coffee from Coelho), drop a comment!

Photos courtesy of Wong. Add him as a friend on FB. ‘Debrizio Wong’ and check out more of his Bantus photo collection!

IMPORTANT!!!: Please note that the Batizado Ceremony on Sunday 8th Nov will be held at Jaya One, Jalan Universiti, PJ

Click here for details

Okay, lets try that again. My apologies for Monday’s no show by Paulo as there was some mis-communication between him and myself. We will be having another free trial this coming Monday 19th of October

Regular classes  will probably be on the weekends once or twice a week at academy. Fees to be determined but no worries, it should not be too expensive.

• What: Free Trial Portuguese Classes
• Where: Bantus Capoeira Academy, DJ
• Date/Time: 9:30pm to 10:15pm, Monday 19th October 2009

Again, for more info about this year’s 6th Annual Bantus Capoeira Malaysia Festival, see the the posts below.

Hey all, good news! We’ve found a hotel that is relatively near to the academy. We are in the process of obtaining the rates but looks like it should be decently priced. Will update when the details become available

For overseas or out of town Bantulinos, if you would like to visit us in Malaysia this year, please tell your respective leaders your details so they can communicate with us and we shall book the rooms for you guys.

For overseas or out of town capoeiristas from other groups, just email me the dates you would like me to book. My email is quek@bantus.com.my

For exact dates of our events check out the post below! See you all soon

Register now for the 6th Annual Bantus Capoeira Festival 2009! This year we will be hosting Mestre, Profesor Claudinho, Graduado Grau, and Contre Mestre Silvio. Our family has grown across the Klang valley this year and this is a great time to get together and meet all your Bantus brothers and sisters.

**Download your registration form here. Print out, fill up and pass to either Rafa or Quek.

Schedule of Events: Adults

Batizado Packages

Festival Package (Members Only) - Members: RM 320

1. FREE CLASSES FOR NOVEMBER
2. Attend ALL workshops
3. Attend ALL rodas
4. Festival T-Shirt
5. Attend Batizado Ceremony

Standard Festival Package - Members: RM 280, Non-Members: RM 350

1. Attend ALL workshops
2. Attend ALL rodas
3. Festival T-Shirt
4. Attend Batizado Ceremony

**Download your registration form here.

Abada Promotion

Buy a brand new pair of abadas for only RM 100 with your Festival Package

To purchase your Festival Package please talk to Quek or Rafa at the academy… or wherever you happen to bump in to them!

Schedule of Events: Kids (under age 16)

Kids Festival Packages

Bantus Capoeira Kids Package with Uniform - Price: RM 180

1. Kids Workshop with Mestre
2. Festival T-Shirt
3. Official Bantus Capoeira Abadas (Pants)
4. Attend Batizado Ceremony

Bantus Capoeira Kids’ Package without Uniform - Price: RM 120

1. Kids Workshop with Mestre
2. Festival T-Shirt
3. Attend Batizado Ceremony

**Download your registration form here.

Important Notes About the Batizado Ceremony

Please note that your registration for the festival does not automatically guarantee that you will receive your first or new belts during the ceremony. Our mestre and your instructor will be responsible to award eligible students with their new belts at their discretion.

You are required to own a pair of official Bantus Capoeira Abadas (Pants) to be eligible to for grading.

Payments

Payments can be submitted to our instructors, Mr. Rafael Rosario or Mr. Quek Wei Kin in the form of cash or check made payable to Bantus Capoeira Malaysia Sdn Bhd.

GUYS, the Festival 2009 is around the corner and WE WANT YOU to be part of it.  It’s going to be a week full of culture and fun, which only Capoeira can give you. Don’t miss the chance to see as well as be part of Capoeira, Maculele, Samba and much more.  Keep your eyes on the website for more info soon!!!

LET’S TRAIN HARD

Here are dates for the Bantus Capoeira Asia Pacific Batizado Circuit 2009

• Perth - 26th Oct to 1st Nov
• KL - 3rd Nov to 8th Nov
• Singapore - 11th Nov to 15th Nov
• Bangkok - 19th Nov to 22nd Nov
• Jakarta - 26th Nov to 29th Nov

Poster Design Competition

This year we are holding a competition to design the Festival 2009 poster.

The poster will need to include the following:

1. Title of the event
2. Date of the event
3. Special guests names
4. Short description about the event

The winner will receive free entry to Festival 2009. For more information speak to Marissa.

Submission date by 10^th September.

By Adrian Low:

The well known Chow Kit area in Kuala Lumpur, famous for some of its best kept secret street food stalls, is also equally infamous as the place where the city’s destitute can be found. With the help of Adopt Action Group Malaysia (AAG), Bantus Capoeira Malaysia (BCM) is volunteering weekly classes for the children of Rumah Nur Salam (RNS) right in the heart of Chow Kit.

Bantus Capoeira is from Belo Horizonte, Brazil. They are active in reaching out to street children and teach them capoeira in hope of keeping them out of trouble. BCM would like to carry out the same initiative here. By having capoeira classes in RNS, they are hoping to be able to reach out to more street children in RNS’s efforts to keep them out of harm’s way.

Rumah Nur Salam is a 24-hour sanctuary where street children can walk in and out freely. The idea is to keep these children out of the streets where they are at high risk to undesirable elements like drugs, prostitution, human-traffickers, just to name a few. Currently RNS is the only child crisis centre in Malaysia where they assist, protect and address children issues. To date there are more than 400 children registered with RNS. They get at least a proper meal a day, some exposure to education and basic healthcare which are usually unattainable for most of them.

Adopt Action Group is a watchdog group of concerned civilians from varied backgrounds formed to monitor the status of abandoned children found with the objective of them ended up in homes instead of orphanages. AAG works with the existing system to facilitate the adoption of abandoned children by disseminating information and pointing potential adoptive parents to the right direction. AAG works closely with RNS to champion their common cause.

C’mon over to celebrate Graduado Rafael’s birthday with July’s Roda do Mese!

• What: Roda of the Month July 2009
• Who: All Bantulinos welcomed no matter where you train
• Where: Bantus Academy Damansara Jaya
• When: 8pm - 9:30pm Friday 31st July 2009
• Attire: Bantus T-shirt

Bantus Capoeira is part of the Astro Sokker Safari, a series of events leading up to the World Cup in South Africa next year! Please be on time for this as it is a scheduled performance in the itinerary for this event

• What: Public Roda - Astro Sokker Safari for Man Utd vs Malaysia
• Who: All Bantulinos welcomed no matter where you train
• Where: Carpark A, Stadium Bukit Jalil
• When: 7pm - 8pm Saturday 18th July 2009
• Attire: Bantus T-shirt and Abadas

We are organizing Grupo Bantus Capoeira Malaysia’s 1st Cultural Week at the Academy and we need your help to make it a success.

• What: GBCM Cultural Week 2009
• Who: All Bantulinos welcomed no matter where you train
• Where: Bantus Academy Damansara Jaya
• When: 24th to 27th June 2009 from 8:15pm - 9:30pm
• Itinerary: Roda, Presentation of Work by Groups, Screening of Capoeira Movie: Bimba Illuminada

We have organized 5 groups to give presentations on a range of capoeira related topics. Give Rafa a call at 0122713983 or at rafael@bantus.com.my to be part of this event!