In case you were wondering, I’m the goofy looking guy on bottom who isn’t even pointed at the right camera. That’s ok though, because behind me is Dan Inosanto!
Last weekend, I travelled to Seattle with my fellow martial artists from Maelstrom to learn what I could from this legendary man. In the photo, from left to right, are Lakan Guro Zack, Guro Inosanto, Steve, and Guro Loki.
We left Vancouver at 8 in the morning, crossed the border without difficulty (though we were surprised to be quized on the particulars of Dan Inosanto’s seminar and academy – turns out that our guard’s father trained Kali), and arrived just in time for the seminar to start. Guro Inosanto did not disappoint.
My instructor, who also happens to be Inosanto-certified, likens training with Inosanto to “drinking from a fire hose.” This was exactly right. He would demo a fighting flow with his assistant, then three or four variations on it, at about half speed. He would run through them twice, then ask “Got it? Good!” We would get a few minutes to review it in our heads while he chatted a bit about training philosophy, phillipino history, and his general outlook. We’d see the flows one more time, and get 5 minutes to try to reproduce them. Then a quick (30 second) combination drill, as fast as possible to get our blood flowing, then it was onto the next flow. It was like that, steadily, for the entire seminar. We all left literally numb, our brains crammed way past overflowing.
So, what did I get out of it? Other than the pleasure of meeting and training with an incredible martial artist, that is harder to quantify. The seminar was divided in two, with the first part focused on Panentuken and JKD, while the second focused on knife disarms of the “stripping” variety.
Guro Inosanto broke the drills down into an entrance, a finish, and some meat in the middle. He described these stages as a good framework to think about mixing martial arts within. In this case, the entrance would usually be some variation on a JKD seeking hand, and the finish would always be a right, a hook, and another right. In between would be elbows, punches, straight finger strikes, small foot sweeps, jams, and destructions. I really enjoyed this material, and it worked well with my body type.
For the second (shorter) part, we drilled knife against knife, and empty hand against knife. The disarms were all variations on a wrist grab and forearm strip. When Inosanto and his assistant were demoing these, they literally used a pile of knives, and did it kneeling on the floor so that they would not fly far when disarmed. They did it so comfortably and smoothly that it looked more like a bizarre sort of juggling act, with knives steadily flying out of their hands in a smooth arc, instantly replaced by one from the floor. I would have to really drill this stuff hard to even think of trying to use it though. The traditional Kali approach of just cutting your opponent until they can’t come at you any more feels easier and safer.
In the end, the seminar laid some strong foundations for future exploration. Thanks very much to Guro Inosanto for visiting Seattle, and thanks to my travelling companions and fellow martial artists for making the day as exciting, fun, and interesting as it was.
