Question for y'all, I need a quick opinion

[HopGar]

I was thinking that too Budokan..Now I need to figure out how Im gonna learn the rest of the sword form or a staff form in 2 months.....

Zvika

"He's not dead, 'es resting! Well if 'e's resting, I'll wake him up! 'Ello Mr. Polly Parrot...." -Monty Python, Dead Parrot Sketch

[JNA]

Either one of 2 things would occur.
1) You'll get huge applause, you'll become hugely popular and you'll get a dont F* with me rep.
2) Youll get boo'ed off the stage, ridiculed and some a*holes will probably start a fight with you "to test your skills".
Weight it out and see if it's worth it, and if #2 happens, hey it's your last year of school anyway and you'll get to test your fighting ability. ;)
You have more balls than me in any event, I wouldn't of even considered performing, let alone Kungfu

"The Self Defense mentality" is one of escaping from a violent encounter unharmed. "The Warriors mentality" is one of taking out the enemy as quickly and efficient as possible- Ji Ji Ke (Ji Long feng). Which one do you have?

[HopGar]

Thats a gtood point and one reason why I'm so hesitant to do it...why else would I have asked, I dunno, I think I'm gonna go for it, besides, I intimidate most people just by lookin at them....especially freshmen :D , but its stil an issue

Zvika

"He's not dead, 'es resting! Well if 'e's resting, I'll wake him up! 'Ello Mr. Polly Parrot...." -Monty Python, Dead Parrot Sketch

[HopGar]

wish me luck, I'm gonna go for it. What I'm gonna do, I dunno, but we'll see.

Zvika

"He's not dead, 'es resting! Well if 'e's resting, I'll wake him up! 'Ello Mr. Polly Parrot...." -Monty Python, Dead Parrot Sketch

[Nexus]

I've performed tai chi in front of groups of laypeople, in fact, all summer long, groups of us practice in a park that is right by a main street. Often it attracts people who come the next weekend wanting to join our practice and we also welcome them to do so.

I've showed off tai chi forms to friends and friends of friends, and when I go out dancing I have integrated a lot of tai chi into the way that I dance, although its not obvious to a spectator. I got labeled the dancing daoist as a joke for a while with some of my tai chi friends, but tai chi does really compliment your ability to move the body around this and that way.

At some dances, where there is a breakdancing, its sometimes fun to get in the middle of a circle of people after some guys finishes breaking and do a tai chi form or something silly that you made up that people think is martial. I have seen no consequence of doing it except peoples comments about how cool it was as people are lacking exposure to any sort of authentic martial arts. I've had people say, wow, I just expected to see a bunch of punching and kicking and "ha's".

Of course what Abandit said about showing your art to a crowd that does not appreciate it also holds some merit. I enjoy displaying my tai chi forms when I feel like it because it is a means of expressing yourself through your actions rather then your words. People sit and philosophize the mind all day long, and tai chi allows an expression of body, mind, spirit, just like almost all our martial arts allow! Of course this can be a personal expression as well as a public one and each has its time and place.

So, my point is, the choice is entirely up to you in the end and it is likely that what comes of your actually doing the kung fu will be neither good nor bad, just different.

- Nexus

[wu_de36]

make sure you use the Jock Jams CD :)

[HopGar]

I faked a staff form during the summer..ppl thought it was real, it was funny.

Zvika

"He's not dead, 'es resting! Well if 'e's resting, I'll wake him up! 'Ello Mr. Polly Parrot...." -Monty Python, Dead Parrot Sketch

[Nexus]

Lol. Once you have the martial arts basics for your art, its really easy to fake forms and such. People don't know this from that, and at the end you get comments like: "When you did that twisting, snapping, arm thing, wow, that was amazing!" or even better is when someone who knows absolutely nothing about your form tries to relate and use words that they think are in martial syntax to explain what you were doing in your form to you!

I always find it odd when someone tries to tell you about your art and how you should improve it or could have done better even though you've spent the last 15 years training it and they just saw it for the first time. :rolleyes:

- Just wanted to add though that you often here in taichi and which comes to be true after you surpass beginning stages that in taichi there are no forms. In this sense, you can really have quite a bit of room to play around with different postures and movements as that is exactly what they are, postures and movements, transitions, learning to move from the dantien etc. -

- Nexus

[This message was edited by Nexus on 11-30-01 at 11:07 AM.]

[Fu-Pow]

My opinion is this.....

Do the performance. However, after the form demonstration I would show some pre-rehearsed applications of the form with a willing participant. Keep it simple. This way the form and the application will make sense to people.

After that I'd give the name and a brief history of your style and let people know where they can sign up if they want to.

That way you get to show off, but you are also doing it in a way that promotes your style and your martial arts school. Not just yourself!!!!!

Good luck whatever you decide. It takes some serious guts to get up in front of people to perform.

Fu-Pow

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