Leroy D. Philpotts | The Netherlands

Leroy is a capoeirista. Until we spoke to him, all we knew about his sport (capoeira) was that trying to pronounce its name (kah-poe-err-uh) made our tongues hurt. Leroy, founder of the capoeira group Brother Capoeira, set us straight.

CW: Tell us about the group: Why "Brother Capoeira"? How many people are involved? How often do you get together?
Leroy: Brother Capoeira was the idea of my good friend Jamel Mims, a capoeirista from the States. At the moment we have about 11 active members and drop-ins once in a while. We have Chinese, American, European and Middle Eastern people. For now we get together just once a week on Sundays.
What exactly is capoeira?
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art developed in the 1500s by African slaves who were brought to Brazil by the Portuguese. It is marked by deft, tricky movements always played with music. It’s more like a game than a fighting style. The capoeiristas engage in a series of attack and counter attack movements made up of mostly kicks, at times coming within inches of each other.
How did the club come about? How did you get involved?
I found that there wasn’t any active capoeira group here in Beijing. So I decided to post an ad on the internet for a training partner. In March I was contacted by a Brazilian jiujitsu professor who owns his own academy and wanted to add capoeira to his training schedule. So we met up for lunch and things took off from there.
Can I play if I'm not athletic?
Yes you can. You don't need to be as athletic for capoeira as it looks. There are moves that require little athleticism but as you train and get better, so will your athletic ability and you will be able to advance to more athletic and difficult moves.
How do you see the future of the club?
As you might know, capoeira is doing very well in the other areas of Asia like Japan, Hongkong, Malaysia and Thailand, but not in China yet. Capoeira is new to China, so who knows where it will go or what it will lead to.

When: Every Sunday, 12:30pm
Where: Jianwai SOHO
Email: brothercaopeira@hotmail.com