Demos: Fact or Fiction!?

[ninjanurse]

All good point here-my 2 cents:

My demos are geared towards highlighting the various aspects of our curriculum while at the same time showing that we enjoy what we are doing and can have fun with it. We do make it entertaining, with music and some breaking, but the goal is to educate not show off flashy techniques. Anytime you put your art in the public eye it will be scrutinized-and of course it's advertising!

[sensei8]

Most demonstrations aren't demonstrations at all because they don’t teach the interested or highly speculative audience anything.

Depends what the purpose of your demonstration is. If you really want to teach, get them to attend a lesson. If you're there to entertain then flash may be appropriate. Few people are going to want to watch line work or whatever if you're there to entertain. They'd much rather see action. I don't agree with excess flash though. Still got to keep it real.

Our demos are mainly done by the kids anyway as a demonstration of what they've learnt. Maybe with a little input in from the adults.

Every demo I do IS A LESSON! Believe it or not, I can do a demo that's entertaining, but, it's done in such a way that someone in the audience is going to receive a lesson. That's who the demo is for, my demo's aren't for the gaukers. Excessive flash has no business in a demo, imho! They only way, imho, to keep it real is to demonstrate EFFECTIVE martial arts. Even tameshiwara is ineffective martial arts, and in that, weapons demos and tameshiwara are the only flash we use, and those are kept simple. Breaking a stack over my head isn't simple, it's ineffective. Spinning a Bo like a plane prop isn't simple, it's ineffective. Seeing that it's my demo, then I decide what's acceptable and what isn't!

Exhibitions of tameshiwara (The art of breaking) are great to witness. And as a proponent of tameshiwara, I must say this. NONE, of the techniques used in tameshiwara can be used in a real life encounter...UNLESS. Unless the attacker(s) are more than willing to just stand there while the martial artist literally prepares themself mentally before the martial artist strikes. I doubt that the attacker would pause long enough, if at all, so that the martial artist can draw way back before the blow lands. A martial artist isn't a MLB picther going for a strikeout or a NFL quarterback going for the hail-mary. Any attacker that would wait for the martial artist to prepare for the action is as stupidified as the audience in watching a tameshiwara demonstration. No, the attacker in a real situation would move out of the way, or strike first and foremost. In a real life confrontation with an attacker, the martial artist truly doesn't have the time to prepare themself as they do in a demonstration.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. How are you doing your breaking? Fair enough if you're really going for it and psyching yourself up but in that case maybe you're not using the practise of breaking to its full potential. We practise these big draw-back, psych yourself up and smash 50 bricks breaks but also learn to do one board or two board straight off from your guard.

How am I doing my breaking? Simple and effective! I don't believe in making the stack of material higher that I am. If I have to use a ladder, then the stacks WAY to high, and not effective or practical. Breaking the one board or the two boards straight off the guard IS effective and practical providing that your not standing there for a long time before the break.

The full potential of breaking has nothing to do with the big draw and/or psyching yourself up. Imho, the big draw and/or psyching oneself up ISN'T tameshiwara, that's for hollywood or for the super big tournaments; those elements are acceptable and expected by hollywood and the big super duper tournaments. ISKA's breaking division went from displaying effective breaks to totally displaying ineffective breaks. Why? For the pop of the crowd, NOT to display tameshiwara as it's meant to be.

I guess it's true, for me that is. An old dog can't learn a new trick, and it's not because the old dog can't, but, it's because the old dog just doesn't want to do a new trick that's ineffective!

Edits: Trying to fix the quotes to stay in the quote boxes...trying.

Edited May 17, 2010 by sensei8

[DWx]

Fair enough if you want to teach your audience. I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with spicing it up if you're main purpose is to entertain. And if you do want to teach maybe a free lesson as opposed to demonstration may be a more productive format.

[Jeffrey]

I think you hit it on the head when you said it's like going to the circus. But then the circus can be fun. Admittedly going to a martial art tournament and watching free-form katas done to music, or weapons twirling is not the same thing as watching gladiators in the Colosseum, but it's something to do.

kata done to music. I hate to admit this but I have tried it. It ruins my timing and it doesn't flow the way it is intended too.

Sensei8, I like the way you brought this up and I agree 100%. A great topic.

[bushido_man96]

Toptomcat -- maybe it would entice the demographic you want to attract?

Are 'serious martial artists' the kind of demographic that's likely to attend a public karate demo?

I would be willing to guess that it is more likely to attract those who don't have experience in the Martial Arts, and therefore become the new students.

I'm willing to be that most "serious" Martial Artists that ever attend any type of demo show to watch, critique, and then talk about later amongst themselves, speaking of what they thought was junk, was good, or was just plain bull.

I like all types of demos. And there is something to be said about demos as advertising. Yeah, they probably are off-the-wall, over-the-top types of performances, but it does speak to the capability that the school can develop, and if they can do all the fancy stuff, then I'd bet that their basics are good, too.

My current school does demos that pretty much mirror a class of our, but in a downsized mode. We do basics, then a form or two, one-steps, sparring, and maybe some self-defense stuff that is Hapkido-based. Last, we break boards, each doing a different kind of break, with different amounts of boards.

[Cable Dog]

Not to beat a dead horse since this topic seems to be thoroughly beaten already, but the "breaking" and "dance demos" are meant to be aesthetically pleasing, not educational. In fact honestly, I haven't come across a kata that made me say "Hmm, if I ever get in a fight, I'll just use this kata". However, It forces you to repeat these moves with perfection from start to finish. The last punch should be as strong as the first. The last zenkutsu dachi should be as long and solid as the first.