Prepping for an A Demo.

[red_fists]

Hi All.

The Creche of my lil one asked me to do a MA Demo at the next sports meet.

Now I am a bit worried that a TCC Form would be too slow our shortest unarmed one is 7 minutes, and I nearly forgot my Shaolin Hong Quan Forms. :(

The nice one is 18 minutes.

So should I speed the whole Form up, or just some moves.

Luckily our forms have some moves that look impressive when done at high speed.

Sensei kinda asked if I could use an old Carl Douglas song (you all know which one) and if it is possible to time the Form to the Tune.
For the Carl Douglas one I most prolly will be using a mod. staff or Sword form. Need to improvise there as I haven't learned our TCC ones yet.
But can draw on Tai-Jutsu for it and mix some TCC moves in.
2nd Form will be the double fan as it only takes 4~5 minutes and I am fresh up on it.

Any suggestions welcome.

P.S.: Remember I need to compete with power rangers & Kamen rider and the like on TV over here.

P.S.S.; Me and my Wife are the only Parents doing MA there.

[taooftaichi]

First, I think it depends on what you want to demonstrate. That is, how do you want Tai Chi to be percieved?

If the audience is of very young people, a brief demo (or several brief demos) is much better than say even a 7 minute form. Perhaps, demonstrate only a portion of the form. (Note: In competition, you usually must demonstrate your Tai Chi skill in a form that is less than 4 minutes)

I have had very good responses from very young audiences when I demonstrated Tai Chi form slowly. I will do only a short section of the form. I think it gives the wrong idea to try to "compete" with what others may be demonstrating. Educate the public! Let them see what real Tai Chi is, not some modified presentation that doesn't convey the usual feel of Tai Chi.

Let people see that Tai Chi is different from other arts, don't try to make Tai Chi fit a mold created by media.

(Young people are often mesmerized by the rhythm and speed of Tai Chi, most won't be disappointed or make fun of the presentation)

[red_fists]

Hi.

My audience will be aged 0~6yr plus their parents.

I doubt if any of them know much about MA in general.

It is one of those programs where each parent has to do something that he is good at, and not normally shown.

I would got for slow as well, but the Song request of "Kung Fu Fighting" is a bit too fast.

Maybe I should use one of the Tapes that we use at the School for the Demos.

Maybe I need to think a bit more about it.

[apham4]

Hello.

for the demos that i have done here at school (college) we've basically just did some forms at a relatively fast speed (around 4 minutes or so) to some of the songs on the tai chi melody cd. gave a brief description of taiji and the forms. then showed a couple of movement of push hands and reasons for sensitivity training.

from that we've had some pretty good responses tho our audience here is usually college students and faculty, so a bit different from yours.

also, if you have enough people. you can try a slight variation on the 24 standard form that we did. we had at least 4 people lined up creating a "box" pattern and facing out different directions. soon got to a point where everyone faced in doing the "snake creeps" move. i thought this was very cool.

also, what's been done is a group of people doing the 24, some doing a section of the 48 while a lone person does chen in the middle, that's also very cool and visually stimulating.

just some suggestions.

A.

[red_fists]

Hi All.

This is not going to be Tai Chi Lesson, nor are People really interested in what type of MA I am doing.

There will be no time for explanation or similar.

It is simple a short Demo to amuse the lil' ones, among a few others like Taiko (Japanese Drums), Amateur Magician and similar.

Also nobody besides me & my Wife will participate.

[Ray Pina]

If they are not martial artists, and you're not looking to draw students, only impress children, ITS TIME TO HAM IT UP. Improv man, improv.

Go to town in the air like you're training at home alone. Enphasise every few strikes to coincide with the music. Anything with a sword will make kids happy, can't see you loosing there.

Have fun. IS this for CHinese New Year, or just a demo? I'd say even get a friend to come out in a lion if you have it, kids will like that.

[red_fists]

Hi EvolutonFist.

Not it is not for Chinese new Year, but for an annual Sports Event.

Still a few moons away, plenty of time to prep.

Thanks for all the Input from everybody.

[YiLiQuan1]

Peter -

Doing demos in Japan is quite an easy thing. Just got back from Nagoya Sunday after doing a Modern Arnis demo there for the annual Nagoya International Friendship Festival.

We had kids AND adults in the audience, and while they were impressed with the sticks flying about, the thing that REALLY got their attention was when we brought kids and grown ups on stage to teach them trapping hands...

Maybe you and the Mrs. could do a short excerpt from a form, a short bout of push hands, then ask some folks to come up and play with you...?

Depends on how much time you have.

By the by, any chance of your getting up this way? The Tokyo Boozeup is likely a no-go this weekend (you know how my job is - unpredictable at best), but I would still like to get together with y'all sometime to train and share. Lemme know... you have my keitai denwa bongo, neh?

Hasta brah.

[red_fists]

Hi Matt.

Let me check the Schedule, not sure about this or next weekend.

But I should definately have time in February for a training sesion.

Will give you a tingle on the keitai later on.