First ever beginner's capoeira program starts on April 5th

The end of last week, Capoeira Decatur launched the first ever beginner's program. I'm personally very excited about this program. It provides value to anyone who wants to learn capoeira. I wanted to take a moment to just talk about it a little.

Before, when someone decided that they wanted to try class, this is the process she'd go through:

1. Sign-up for a trial class.
2. Come to the free class, getting some special attention from the lead instructor or one of the more advanced students.
3. Decide to sign-up for a membership
4. Come to regular classes, get special attention until she's proficient in the basics.

Although this model has worked very well because of the community of capoieristas that we've built in Decatur, there are a few problems with it. First, not everyone appreciate that special attention, especially when they have no idea what's going on. On one end of the room, the newbie is trying to learn the very basics. On the other end of the room, you have a bunch of people wearing the same clothes practicing what looks to be quite difficult. Not all people respond well to this type of environment.

The second major problem for beginners comes in step four. After a few weeks, she starts doing similar sequences to the ones everyone else is doing, and frankly does not get the same value from the same instruction. There are many subtleties in capoeira, and without a base, it's difficult to be cognitively aware of them, let alone practice with those details in mind.

A third problem lies with the existing students. More advanced students are forced to help out new people, when they need training as well. Teaching is one thing, but as I blogged about earlier, there is no class that is too simple for any capoeirista, hence even a very advanced student can develop by taking a beginner's class. Furthermore, having the most advanced students helping newbies on the side lines takes leadership away from the rest of the students in class.

This program is designed to solve all three of these problems. For people who want to get into capoeira, but find joining the regular, now dubbed the intermediate class, with little or no experience to be intimidating, they will no longer have the opportunity to be singled . New students will also be sure to develop their capoeira basics in a structured class with peers who are at the same or very outsimilar level. Finally, when a new student completes the 8-week intro program, they will be ready to join in with the regular class and have the necessary skills to succeed there. Here's the new process:

1. Sign-up for a trial class.
2. Come to the free class, getting some special attention from the lead instructor or one of the more advanced students.
3. Sign-up for the beginners program.
4. Graduate from the beginners program.
5. Join in the regular class already proficient in the basics.

I really hope that this first launch goes as well as possible. Essentially, the beginner's program provides new students with their needed attention without the distraction of having another class. New students also have the opportunity to hang out with other people who are at the same place in their capoeira development. To make the program more exciting, there's a workshop with another teacher at the end of the 8 weeks, and a raw corda ceremony to signify completion of the beginner's program in which the student gets to invite friends and family.

Pretty cool idea if you ask me. What do you guys think?

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