Dan Anderson
Master of Arts
Hi All,
I just came back from the Arnis Fest in Orland Park. I'll let others review the camp itself. I had some thoughts I wanted to pass on regarding the instruction and the MOTTs.
I came away very impressed by the level of instruction at the camp. The MoTTs have done their homework. What I liked was the breakdown of basics and positioning. Rather than firing a number of techniques, shotgun style, they brought to the table the exact positionings and leveragings of the various techniques and basics were stressed very heavily.
Their intention has always been stated to continue on the Professor's legacy. A very key issue to me has always been RP not really stressing fundamental basics all that heavily. Positioning and leveraging has been areas that the senior students had to figure out for their own. We felt him do it to us but technical explanations were not the norm.
The MoTTs, in this regard, have done their homework. The same actions that RP taught were augmented by stress placed on the basics - the chassis and not the chrome. Sweet.
Another thing that impressed me was both in private and in public, Arnis Fest was not the "Ken Smith show." Or anybody else's show for that matter. Prof. Presas, as source, was continually referenced to. Continually.
I haven't seen the MoTTs move since 1997 and again, they were grounded in the basics. They moved quite well. They each brought a different "strength" to their application of Modern Arnis. One example would be Randi Shea's stength was being more exact angles and position oriented. This is natural as he is coming at the art from being a smaller man than, let's say, Chuck Gauss or Jim Ladis.
I was talking to Brian Zawilinski on the last day of the camp. He was telling me about a conversation another martial artist had with him about the students responsibility to take their teacher's art and make the art better. I told him that the degree that the MoTTs were delineating the basics of the art, the clarity with which they were presenting it, they were participating in taking the art into the new millenium and making it better. I think each of us who are doing this in our own way are making it better for the upcoming rank and file.
Anyway, a point to make here is that I am not attempting to sit in judgement from on high. I worked with Prof. Presas for many, many years and my background with him cannot be questioned. I am coming from a position of having had my doubts about what IMAF, Inc. were doing and how well could they do it, and so forth. Well, I have gone there and saw first hand, training in every session and I can say without reservation that Prof. Presas would be happy with what they are doing. They are not merely "preservationists" regurgitating the same old same old. They are attempting to take roughly 59 years of martial arts training (Remy Presas' years), which covers a hell of a lot of ground, firmly establish the basics underlying this material, and present it to up and coming generations.
I have firmly believed that if you understand something fully and as well as (or as close to as possible) the founder of an art, you can get to the point of becoming as skilled as the founder. Or get as close to it as humanly possible. If Arnis Fest is any kind of example, IMAF, Inc. is doing a great job of attempting that.
Keep up the good work, folks!
Yours,
Dan Anderson
I just came back from the Arnis Fest in Orland Park. I'll let others review the camp itself. I had some thoughts I wanted to pass on regarding the instruction and the MOTTs.
I came away very impressed by the level of instruction at the camp. The MoTTs have done their homework. What I liked was the breakdown of basics and positioning. Rather than firing a number of techniques, shotgun style, they brought to the table the exact positionings and leveragings of the various techniques and basics were stressed very heavily.
Their intention has always been stated to continue on the Professor's legacy. A very key issue to me has always been RP not really stressing fundamental basics all that heavily. Positioning and leveraging has been areas that the senior students had to figure out for their own. We felt him do it to us but technical explanations were not the norm.
The MoTTs, in this regard, have done their homework. The same actions that RP taught were augmented by stress placed on the basics - the chassis and not the chrome. Sweet.
Another thing that impressed me was both in private and in public, Arnis Fest was not the "Ken Smith show." Or anybody else's show for that matter. Prof. Presas, as source, was continually referenced to. Continually.
I haven't seen the MoTTs move since 1997 and again, they were grounded in the basics. They moved quite well. They each brought a different "strength" to their application of Modern Arnis. One example would be Randi Shea's stength was being more exact angles and position oriented. This is natural as he is coming at the art from being a smaller man than, let's say, Chuck Gauss or Jim Ladis.
I was talking to Brian Zawilinski on the last day of the camp. He was telling me about a conversation another martial artist had with him about the students responsibility to take their teacher's art and make the art better. I told him that the degree that the MoTTs were delineating the basics of the art, the clarity with which they were presenting it, they were participating in taking the art into the new millenium and making it better. I think each of us who are doing this in our own way are making it better for the upcoming rank and file.
Anyway, a point to make here is that I am not attempting to sit in judgement from on high. I worked with Prof. Presas for many, many years and my background with him cannot be questioned. I am coming from a position of having had my doubts about what IMAF, Inc. were doing and how well could they do it, and so forth. Well, I have gone there and saw first hand, training in every session and I can say without reservation that Prof. Presas would be happy with what they are doing. They are not merely "preservationists" regurgitating the same old same old. They are attempting to take roughly 59 years of martial arts training (Remy Presas' years), which covers a hell of a lot of ground, firmly establish the basics underlying this material, and present it to up and coming generations.
I have firmly believed that if you understand something fully and as well as (or as close to as possible) the founder of an art, you can get to the point of becoming as skilled as the founder. Or get as close to it as humanly possible. If Arnis Fest is any kind of example, IMAF, Inc. is doing a great job of attempting that.
Keep up the good work, folks!
Yours,
Dan Anderson
