Kate Haber (Instrutora Pimenta)
Kate Haber (“Instrutora Pimenta”) is the manager of Flying Tortoise. She started her career in movement arts at age 12 with Ballet Arizona and has been a teacher since 1994. She earned her master’s in music from University of Southern California and enjoyed playing oboe, english horn and duduk for various Los Angeles film scores. She has been a student of martial arts since 2006 and completed a Masters’ in Chinese Medicine in 2012.
Her favorites styles are Northern Chinese Kung Fu, which she studied in Beijing with Joey Haber, Taiji which she studies with Fritz Rice, and Capoeira which she teaches today. What she finds appealing about these arts is their ability to positively transform the practitioner from the inside out.
Capoeira
She has been a Capoeirista since 2009 when she began her studies under Mestre Batata in Los Angeles. She studies now with Mestre Kinha of Capoeira Besouro Hawaii. Her music teaching career spanned from 1994 to 2006 and included personal lessons, chamber music instruction and orchestral instruction. Her martial arts teaching experiences include The Source Academy / River City Warriors under Joe Heller, the Cedarwood Waldorf School and the Sun Community Schools. She is comfortable teaching larger gymnasium classes. She likes to refer to capoeira as her 'martial arts soul food': it offers expedient fun, health and community. She runs a thriving kids' capoeira program for ages 6-11. She also owns and manages the clinic next door and the Flying Tortoise Food Cart Pod.
In her classes Instrutora Pimenta stresses cooperation, strength building, safety and an open heart. Please visit Capoeira Besouro Oregon for more info.
"I love how kids take capoeira out of the academy and into their neighborhoods. Capoeira begets playfulness, challenges you and inspires growth physically as well as emotionally."