Fight Clip Club

More from The Stunt People (thestuntpeople.com): Flying and falling. And rolling. Get inspired for our next podcast, folks!


Stunt Training - 11/22/2008 - The Stunt People from Eric Jacobus on Vimeo.

Clownlympics

On Saturday, the MSCD Stage Movement Class performed their second performance of the semester--the Clownlympics! It was a blast to see how they presented events using only movement and posture. The rules for the Clownlympics were as follows:

1) No speaking! (sound ok)

2) No props or costumes.

3) Make the event clear--we should be able to tell what's happening. Funny is a bonus.

4) It should be an event that clowns would perform at the Clown Olympics.

Highlights included:

• a vivid obstacle course with clowns as athletes and obstacles
• clown gangstas with appropriate hand signals
• rebellious hurdles that want to get in the game
• clowns trying to impress the girl
• Jessica E.'s stellar (!) crucifix rolls

Good job, everyone--I can't wait till the Seuss finals! ~Jenn

Pictured: The Ornery Hurdles piece with coach, athlete, and cheerleader; tug-o'-war with the Star-Faced Clowns. Taken 4/11/09 in class.

School for Falling

All you slope-addicts are probably thinking about Natasha Richardson right now, or at least you should be. There's a Colorado school (besides Bonzuko's courses) that specializes in training folks how to fall safely. It's called Camp Woodward, and Team Bonzuko found them first on channel 2 news. What they are is a giant barn that trains gymnasts, BMX-ers, skiiers and snowboarders (and I'd imagine anyone else) how to fly and fall. Their giant barn facility (ooo I'm so jealous) has Olympic-grade trampolines and huge foam pits for landing in, as well as indoor slopes and rails. Check out their photo slideshow and enjoy.

As we continuously say, being able to fall is singly the most important aspect of movement arts one can learn. Especially we who are involved in martial arts, stage combat, and stunts. We at Bonzuko can teach you, but will also celebrate anyone else who does good work in this area.

History of Stunts

As I Googled until my brains melted out of my ears trying to get a picture of David Holmes the stuntman, I came across the website for the Taurus World Stunt Awards. It's on fire, natch.

On said site, they have a "History of Stunts" article that I appreciated, so I herewith post it for you, lovely lurkers. ~Jenn

http://www.taurusworldstuntawards.com/index.php?cmd=cmdInsiderHistory

Building a Demo / Telling a Story

As I think about what I'll do for my next TSD test, I'm thinking a lot about the difference between a martial arts exhibition, a demo for a skills test, and choreographing a fight scene for a play. I just told the MSCD Stage Combat class yesterday that stage combat isn't really about fighting, it's about telling a story. But these three types of staged fighting tend to get blended together in an unlearned audience's mind. Here's my encapsulation of the the three:

1. Martial Arts Exhibition: Have you seen those karate competitions with all the spinning mirrored staffs, the aerial cartwheels, and the screaming? I wouldn't consider that martial arts, but an exhibition. I mean, look at them--they're scored based on difficulty of acrobatics just like a gymnast would be. It's not even a sport, with points scored on pins or throws. Even an exhibition like the BQC folks did a couple years ago at the Boulder Creek Fest is focused on flashy, cool-looking moves, not practical ones (though the BQC certainly were more practical than the karate demonstrations I mention), because the purpose of the demo is for spectacle.
   
2. Skills Test: Again, it's about purpose. A skills test (whether in martial arts or stage combat) is meant to show a judge how well one does certain moves. So a demo for a skills test will be less overtly flashy, but still will have a prescribed number and list of moves that a judge expects to see. Again, I'm reminded (hi, Olympics) of gymnastics or ice skating, in that there is a list of certain moves that the demonstrator is expected to show, and the judgment is based on how well one accomplishes those. Showing off in a skills test doesn't necessarily get one the best score (or the certificate or next belt). The purpose of the skills test is assessment.
3. Theatrical Fight Scene: A piece of choreography for a play has nothing to do with the above. A character is always going for an objective, a goal. She uses tactics to get the objective, and will run into obstacles on the way. A play begins when a character wants something, tension builds as the character tries to get it, then ends when the objective is achieved. In most plays, characters use words to accomplish their goals. When a character has used all her words to no avail, that's when she resorts to physicality. A fight scene erupts in a play when the characters run out of words to express themselves, and so must (so they feel) resort to violence. So the purpose of a theatrical fight scene is to further the action of the story.

My conclusion? I need to make sure, as we go through character-neutral physical techniques in the MSCD class, that I'm always reminding the students of this, so that later when we get to scene-integration, the drama won't get lost in exhibition.

~Jenn

Oh Advanced Class, We Hardly Knew Ye...

We had our last meeting of Advanced Unarmed and Taihenjutsu today--what a long strange trip it's been. Highlights of our last day:

• Stretching
• Acrobatic Showing Off
• Rehearsal
• Performing Fights For Film

What do I mean? Well,

There's some fake throws:

And a nasty fake punch-out:

And a side roll variation:

And here's a preview of the choreography they made the past few classes:

You guys rocked! Thanks so much for a great class. You are SO GOOD! :D ~Jenn

Class 7/17

Hey all, here's what we did in Advanced class 7/17:

We warmed up by stretching and taking a walk on the high balance beam.

We reviewed the first 5 moves of the SAFD Rapier Drill that we know and love. If you forget this, look at Chapter 6 of the book. So now you're all ready to help with the kids next week if you so desire.

Then I got cornered by the very nice yet talkative Self-Defense guy from down the hall. You know, the one we steal the squishy mat from every week? He, by the way, welcomes any of you to come check out what they do, and vice-versa. My impression from our conversation is that it's a basic Self-Defense program that he has devised based on many different forms of martial arts. As always with beginning any martial art practice, my advice is to a) try stuff out and see what you like, and b) look into the legitimacy (lineage) of the teacher. So there you go.

While I was waylaid, the three guys composed a three-person fight added onto Ken and Chris' fight. I have called it "Art Appreciation." :)

We missed you, Hannah.

Next week is the Twelfth Night kids' class. Look in previous posts for dates/times, and have your PVC sword fixin's ready.

Also, save your money--I think it'd be fun to go have some snacks after our last class (7/31). But we'll talk about that.

And to conclude, I don't have capacity to access the pictures and videos I took on my cell phone for some reason--I need to call them. When I get them here on my computer, I'll post em. For now, practice your choreography. Remember, you're the Advanced students, and I expect you all to be good models for those who watch you next week. No pressure. :)

~Jenn

Another clip

Trying to make up for the fact that we didn't post at all from July 3rd (happy birthday, Mom!) till the 9th. And cuz video clips are cool.



Here's a clip from our jumping and rolling practice from Advanced Stage Combat class last week: we were reviewing all our rolls as well as our jumps and spatial awareness, so we started jumping over each others' log rolls:

...then Chris tried this before instruction, and we practiced actually rolling over our log rolls. Just so you know, this is on the "Advanced" tape of ninjutsu techniques I used in my earlier education. Just so you know. I like to tell my movement students when they do something really difficult, but only after they've done so. :)

See you tomorrow!

~Jenn

Class 6/26

Hi all, what a great time we had today! Here's the rundown:

• warmup: freeform stretches, emphasizing wrists and spine


• review: stage safe falls, on hard floor


• review: rolls and rolling break falls on big squishy mat


• "bullet time" evasions with partners


• fake arm bars and rolling out of them: fake ura and omote kote gyaku, and arm flick into fwd air break fall


• hook punch evasion into swing (into roll or wall)


• same as above, but knife slash or sword cut instead of hook punch


• ground choke and partner roll (also on wall)


• knife disarms: from slash and stab (catch and smack hand)

Next week, we start choreographing fights from all this stuff!

Here's a picture for Nick in his signage artistic endeavors. Hopefully you've got a good view of these swept hilts, Nick!

~Jenn

Class 6/19

What fun we had today, eh? We didn't have the big Roll o' Mats, but we went and got a big squishy crash pad and a punching bag obstacle which worked even better for our needs today. Here's what we did:

Warmup: Headstands and Handstands and Yoga balancing

On Squishy Mat:

• Roll Review


• Rolling breakfalls


• Air break falls!! (yes, you really did these!)

On Floor:

• Unarmed blocking (hook punch, ducking)


• Isolation Unarmed and with knife


• "Sword Evasions" with knife

"Throws" on Squishy Mat (note the quotation marks):

• Choke Throw (from behind)


• Choke Throw (from front)


• Arm fling to front rolling breakfall

There are more of these "throws"--we'll begin with them next week and go from there. And Hannah will do the Side Roll Variations! :) :D See you then!

~Jenn

Jenn Likes These!

Who wouldn't want tabi with just a tad more arch support, and sweet colors to boot?

I've been addicted to wearing Royal Elastics day, night, fancy, casual, and on the mats for a while now. They're split-toe sneakers with (ahem) elastic wound around in fancy ways, and they breathe pretty well. I walk around everywhere and these nifty shoes can take it.

The only thing: they do tend to fly off when one is either thrown very hard or executes a very fast roll or cartwheel. And, since I haven't been able to perfect the art of aiming them at someone as it happens, I have taken to not wearing them in hardcore training situations. Also, they are a tetch "fem." Most of my Y chromosome pals find them borderline or downright too girly. Other than that, though, they stand up to, er, standing, walking a lot, running a little, hopping, ninja jumping, teaching movement or writing classes, presenting and accepting awards, and in general making people go, "oo, cool shoes!"


Also, I can dress my black ones up or down. But then, this is Boulder.


And they don't get caught in escalators. :)

Find them at: http://www.royalelastics.com/.


~Jenn

You Got Class!

Tumbling & unarmed stage fight skills. So many of you have asked for this, and now it's open to the public and taught by an actual ninja (if you believe in that sort of thing).

Jenn's Advanced Stage Combat class begins Thursday, June 5. It is at the Auraria Campus in Denver, CO but is not offered for credit. Contact info@bonzuko.com for more information or to reserve a spot!