Anthony's crazy about capoeira

We’d like to introduce you to one of our star performers!   Eleven year old Anthony Casey is nuts for this Afro Brazilian art form. Having worked closely for six months with Artis Specialist Whistle, he’s mastered a series of capoeira moves, performing in front of 200 people, and taken part in the Notting Hill carnival. In March he’ll be partnering Whistle in a special dance concert routine they’ll choreograph together.   Anthony has learning difficulties and some development delays because of Downs Syndrome. But capoeira is firing him with an eagerness to learn not just the steps, but lots about its history and music and the personal skills needed to be a performance artist – discipline, practice, movement control, concentration and confidence.

“The idea of introducing Anthony to capoeira came about after some research I’d done about the positive effects this performing art was having on young people with disabilities in both Brazil and the States,” said Whistle. “The skills you could teach through capoeira interested me.   “I’d already worked with Anthony for about 12 months. As part of my work at Spring Grove Primary School in Hounslow, he regularly joined my Artis group sessions. He was good at the movement work and I knew he’d also learnt some salsa. But I sensed a potential in Anthony to develop other generic skills, especially improvement in attention.    “With the support of Anthony’s Headteacher and parents, we agreed to hold one-to-one 15-minute capoeira sessions every Wednesday morning before school started. This never changed and it was an important part of giving Anthony the opportunity to develop personal discipline. Making the session a regular fixed feature of his week also helped him feel secure and assured the time and place would not change.   “In week one I showed Anthony the basic Jinga move. In week two he copied more steps and I introduced music to the sessions. By week three Anthony spontaneously tried a meia luia – a difficult kick manoeuvre carried out with one hand on the floor. Yet I had never shown him this move. It was only when I later spoke with his parents I found out he was already searching Internet sources like You Tube so he could learn new steps!”   Whistle is using his experience of teaching capoeira to Anthony as part of his Artis Postgraduate Diploma in Performing Arts Leadership (PGDip PAL), accredited by the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM). He hopes to have more opportunities to introduce this energetic art form to other children with learning disabilities.   “With Anthony I set no pressures or targets. I simply showed him a move and he copied it. His passion and enjoyment helped him quickly grasp the steps with a real willingness to achieve. He’s determined too. It took him a while to master the au, a cartwheel manoeuvre, but he didn’t give up. It makes me really proud to watch him.’   The way capoeira has made an outlet for Anthony’s qualities to flourish has impressed his primary class teacher. “His body movement and control improved, and I noticed he became physically more expressive’ said Ann Sheedy. ‘He started coming into classes with a sense of purpose, ready to practice and learn. It was as if Anthony transferred his approach to capoeira to other parts of his school life.’   Peter and Nidya Casey, Anthony’s parents agree. ‘We’ve seen a big transformation in Anthony,’ said Nidya. ‘His physical fitness and muscle tone is better, yet his interest to find out about the history and meaning behind capoeira has also developed his language and IT skills too.   ‘As a parent it’s a joy to see Anthony discover not only a new interest that gives him happiness, but also his personal skills. Capoeira is the medium through which they’ve shone through.’   With all this praise, what does Anthony himself think?   ‘Capoeira is my favourite thing,’ he said.