Nope, the title isn't a reference to my nagging little cold, which luckily is still only a nagging little cold. It's got more to do with the fact that it looks like I've enrolled into doing a demo presentation of my bo kata for Christmas show our school is putting together. Dear God, what have I done???
They did that kind of show two years ago. Basically it's one big day with four separate representations for four distinct groups of students affiliated to our school. I say affiliated because we have some satellite schools where classes are given by instructors from our school, but in out of town school gymnasiums, like the Wednesday night class that Andrew usually attends. Two of these representations are for kids attending those satellite schools, another is for lower belt kids attending classes at the dojo and the final one is for higher belt kids, adults, and boxing students. Each representation runs about 90 minutes and is simply for kids to show their parents what they are working on in their karate classes. Sometimes it'S by putting together little skits, some other times, they simply show off their kicking/punchinh/self defense skills. For us adults, it's simply to have fun, show each other what we can do with all of us gathering afterward to eat some pizza (kids eat pizza after their representations too, don't worry).
Advanced adults are a bit more looked upon to show adult beginners what they could be doing in kenpo in a couple years from now, if they stick to it. That being said, and knowing that I'm THE ONLY underbelt (i.e. non black belt level, or even more, non instructor) doing any kind of open bo work, well, I almost expected it when our instructor talked about the shows at the start of class yesterday and said something along the lines of "hey Steve, how about a demo of some open bo stuff?". Again, knowing how I'm THE ONLY underbelt adult doing any kind of open bo work (repeating for emphasis on "THE ONLY" ;) ), I understand the appeal for our instructor, who's also half-owner of the school with his wife, to have me show my mad skillz. How could I have said no???
Wanna hear a funnier bit still? At the end of class, after he had passed along a little flyer talking about the shows, he got back to me, kind of trying to make sure I'd go along, only to add "and your kata, has it got music on it?". SAY WHAT?!?!? Err, no. I got enough problem holding on to the dang thing, I can't try to synchronize myself with some boom-boom music at the same time. That's when the "oh my God what have I done?" part really hit me. Believe it or not, I'm a fairly shy person with a profound fear of being laughed at. Showing videos of my kata in here is kind of a therapy for me. I know people from my regular traditional classes will probably like watching one of theirs doing an open bo demo, but if I can't really fit the thing to music, I'd rather do it without any. This'll have to be talked about with my bo instructor. Even more, we will have to get started on these changes to the kata, since these shows are on December 3rd and our next scheduled competition is the very next Sunday, December 10.
Two years ago, Andrew didn't want to participate in the show, despite many of his friends taking part in it. He's also very shy as far as being in public. Judges in a competition are nothing to him, but other people, he's still unsure. Maybe seeing me getting ready for such a thing might pump him up a bit. Another idea I had was to do our kata kind of like synchro style. Maybe that would work, Steve and mini-Steve, me and mini-me. His group is taking part in the same representation as mine, from 6 to 7:30pm so maybe fitting a father and son thing in there could have some appeal to both kids and parents. Just thinking out loud here, I'd still have to get him to agree to go on stage. Oh, almost forgot, the show is happening on stage, in an auditorium that can seat about 420 people... sigh, what have I done? I'm frigging nervous just thinking about it...
And before you ask, yeah, they will be filming the whole thing so there should be videos to be posted at some point in mid December...
FM
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5 comments:
sigh, what have I done?
Gone along with it.
Work hard, it'll all go as it must. And you may get a kick out of it.
wow, a joke in english. kick. I'm proud. :-)
Seriously, you've just motivated yourself to do something more. And quite frankly, what more to wish for in budo?
cheers and good day.
This is a good way to control your nervousness. Maybe your instructor thinks your getting too much in a comfort zone when your are competing. :-)
As for the music, try to find the orignal soundtracks from Hero, House of the Flying Daggers or other martial arts movie. Less boom boom and a good way to use the music as a background rather than "fitting" your form to the music.
A father-son thing is a good idea. I would love to do a thing like that with my son one day.
After this, competition will be easy!
And hey, more vids for us to see!!!
to both Mat and MrX, you are both probably right. I was discussing it with another online friend yesterday and she said that "you've gotten yourself entwined in something that will make you a better martial artist". I like that point of view. What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger, as they say...
Specifically to MrX, I'm not so sure my instructor thinks I'm in too much of a comfort zone, believe me. I was asked by my traditional instructor, my bo instructor has no clue about this, that I know of at least.
Thanks for the music suggestion, I'll take a look into those two. Can you believe I was given Hero for my birthday last year and I have yet to watch it? Shame on me...
The father-son thing is something I've had on my mind for a long while. I talked to Andrew about it yesterday and he really didn't want to be part of the show by himself. Then I talked about a possible father-son synchronized kata and he wavered, told me I spin faster than him. I replied that we would have to practice, that's for sure, but that I could adjust. Not too sure how we could work it out, as I'd really like to do my kata on my own, but I also would like to do it with him. Don't want to take too much room during the kid's part of the show though... We'll have to think about this...
Take care, Steve.
:).
There's always the good old answer too :
If Sensei asks of you, it's because he has confidence in you.
Remember that scene in Hero where he fights with "lance étoilée" and there's a guy playing the Guqin? There are water drops everywhere. That's my all time favorite movie scene.
The hero soundtrack was by Tan Dun. You might want to check out Yo-Yo ma too. And, for a more rythmic kind of music, check out the soundtrack for final fantasy 7(the video game) you might want to check it at less..... hahem, less usual places...
Anyways, you're good in kata. I remember pointing out the things to work on, but I forgot to say what was good. Namely, the strikes, most transitions and spinning!
in the traditionnal one :
no unneccesary contraction like what was seen elsewhere, your koshi(hip) is alive and it shows in your movements. They have power in them. I wouldn't want to be in front of you trying to block.
You don't look top-heavy and your strikes are clean. Sure you were leaning forward but that's easily fixed. You have to look forward (not at your hands - your hands know what to do, look at the guy in front of you) and push out the navel. Your sensei will help.
You don't look robotic. You have fluidity which is something I lack. It's smooth looking. During the coming back section with the knee strike and the double open hand strike, you look confident.
But the best quality I see is the hips. They move!!!
Chin up dude! Seeing you didn't make me want to change style, but it made me wish I had a dedicated training partner such as you.
I'm sure it'll end up pretty nicely and YAY for videos :)
I have to agree with Mat.. you are very smooth looking kata.. it might feel robotic to you.. but I have found that I am my own worst critic. Perhaps you are far harsher on yourself than others would be... ?
" I'm a fairly shy person with a profound fear of being laughed at"
This is a fear that needs to be squished.. No matter how good you do something, there will always be someone to criticize you ( whether they know what they are saying or not)
You need to find your "happy" place, and to be proud of the improvements that you have achieved without being boastful. Also, you need to never be satisfied of what you have, but always reach for more without putting down what you've got. This is a difficult balancing act, but seeing that you have come this far.. I am sure that you will have no problems getting it all done right.
I'm waiting for those videos...
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