The city’s fitness frat at a Capoeira class
There are robust gym rats, lithe yoga enthusiasts, sturdy sportsmen. And then there’s Amir Solsky. The Los Angeles-based Capoeira Contra Mestre (an advanced Capoeira practitioner) spent three days earlier this month in Calcutta amping up the city’s fitness game.
“Capoeira (pronounced cup-ooh-air-ah) is an art that came from the African slaves in Brazil. It involves music and singing, and the slaves mixed in fighting techniques, so they could practise fighting while pretending to dance,” said Solsky.
In a workshop organised by 212 Degrees (it provides opportunities for compact learning courses) at King’s Court on Shakespeare Sarani, Solksy took about 20 fitness aficionados through the basics of his course — Fundamentals of Learning.
On his first trip to Calcutta, Solsky visited the Indian Museum and Victoria Memorial and ordered a spicy Indian gravy at Bar-B-Q that “was not hot enough but it was nice.” When he’s not pushing the boundaries of his endurance, he’s running an aquarium business
back in LA.
Ramona Sen
Pictures: B. Halder
Ballet & tap at little gym
Colourful walls and even more colourful tutus greet you as you enter Little Gym on a Thursday. “The city’s first gymnastics studio for children” in Ballygunge (opposite Modern High School for Girls) has introduced dance to its curriculum.
Dance, the Little Gym way, consists of half an hour each of ballet and tap dance. “Ballet and tap are different forms of dance and both work on different parts of the body. They complement each other and it doesn’t get boring for the kids,” said Maitreyi Kandoi, franchise owner of Little Gym. Ballet strengthens core muscles, while tap improves footwork and coordination.
A row of excited little girls aged three to 12 take position on the floor. One of them is nine-year-old Sara Sengupta, actor Jisshu and Nilanjanaa’s elder daughter. Looking cute in a turquoise leotard and a flower clip holding back her fringe, Sara is ready to dance her heart out.
“Sara is very sporty and athletic. Every year she participates in sports in school, whether it’s relay race or free run. She takes after Jisshu that way. She started with gymnastics at Little Gym. Ballet is also an extension of gymnastics. It’s about posture and flexibility,” says mom Nilanjanaa. “Our kids are growing up in such an age where there aren’t enough parks, and the mall culture is not something we encourage. So Sara is heavily into extra-curricular activities like basketball, painting, pottery.”
The class began with the basics of ballet while the girls swayed to the soothing music and mimicked the movements shown by trainer Shaptarshi Ballav. After 30 minutes, it was time for tap to take over.
The music grew faster and the girls formed a circle with their eyes glued to their trainer Prenkha Saha’s feet. “Tap gives you a really good rhythmic sense. It is mostly about footwork and will help the kids with any kind of dance that they want to pursue,” says Prenkha, who has trained with Rhythmosaic.
“I like coming to Little Gym because it is fun. Some of my friends also come here for classes. Ballet is fun and it also makes you flexible. I love doing gymnastics here and I think ballet will help me become a successful gymnast,” said Sara when the class got over.
Little Gym also plans to introduce hip hop classes and power play to the young ones.
Deborima Ganguly
Pictures: Rashbehari Das
Rough and tumble: The air was fraught with tension as CC&FC and Jungle Crows trooped on to the CC&FC field on August 22 with the same objective — winning the Calcutta Cup. The game ended 32-13 with CC&FC (in red and white) romping home for the second consecutive year, and they’re looking forward to doing the same with the Century Cup as well. “The match was well played by both teams. The first half was very competitive because we had the same score. Rugby requires a lot of strength and we train for long hours in all sorts of weather conditions. We lost one of the league games to Jungle Crows, so our boys were hungry to win,” said Gajendra Singh Vij (second from left), captain of the CC&FC rugby team. Paul Walsh (inset), co-founder of Jungle Crows, literally threw his hat into the ring when the Crows lost. “We have a magnificent group of players that makes up the Jungle Crows family and we are always learning and looking to improve,” said the MBE. Pictures: Arnab Mondal
