Ajitu worldwide

The word AJITU is an acronym for the Portuguese sentence “Adolescentes e Jovens Influentes Trabalhando Unidos”, which can be translated as “Influential Teenagers and Youngsters Working Together”
This is a project of social intervention born a few years ago, in the heart of the Igreja Batista Filadelfia Lauzane (Sao Paulo, Brazil), thanks to the outreaching vision of Pastor Daniel Viana Rosa and the support of Pastor Ademir Nunes.
On the back of this project, Beatriz Viana (professionally known as Professora Bia) founded in 2017 the AJITU CAPOEIRA branch, which is currently present in Brazil, England and Croatia.

Professora Bia started Capoeira in 1998 in Sao Paulo as a student of Mestre Adelmo Lima (Brasilia-DF and Sao Paulo), and was responsible for bringing Capoeira to Bournemouth, Dorset in 2002 with the Origens do Brasil group. As a leader of the Origens do Brasil group, and now the AJITU group, she has pushed the expansion of Capoeira outside Dorset, to Hampshire, Wilthsire, and overseas, Croatia.

 

The main objective of our project is to invest in the long-term health and well-being of our students through Capoeira, motivating children and adults to be active, and to develop and control their physical abilities in order to avoid violence and abuse.

Our wish is that everyone develops a positive influential attitude towards the society they live in, by accepting diversity, promoting equality and support those in need, in a truly selfless way.

 

Through our Capoeira group people become integrated into a social circle surrounded by culture, music and physically challenging training sessions, in an atmosphere where everyone can feel like a family and enjoy learning.

We want to make you proud of yourself and to prove that you can achieve goals and to develop physically, mentally and emotionally through the different elements of Capoeira.

 

MUSIC CLASSES AND GRADUATION

Music is one of the foundations of Capoeira, since it helps create the perfect environment for the game within the roda. For this reason, our teachers organise special Music Classes throughout the year, where students are given the basis of Portuguese language and Brazilian history, in order to interpret the meaning of the songs that are sung.
In Capoeira, like in other martial arts, there is an annual graduation ceremony called Batizado & Troca de Cordas (“Baptism and Belt Changing”), where the Capoeirista is awarded their first belt, or progresses to the next one up. Each belt has its requirements and carries its own meaning, which you can find out here. The belt is usually awarded by highly ranked teachers especially invited for this event. Friends and family members are invited to take part too -or simply watch and enjoy the show!