Successful Public Demonstration

[James_Knowles]

The Ogden, UT study group had a great opportunity to do a full day of demonstration at a middle school, with a public demonstration in the evening.

A short report may be found here.

[Lance Chan]

Bravo! I was at first a bit worried of such demonstration held at school according to Patrick Kelly's experience but I'm very glad that you managed to pull it off in an excellent way! <img src="/forum/images/icons/laugh.gif" alt="" /> Way to go!

[robrobertson]

I wish that I could've been there James! That's sort of a co-incidence, as the other day I was telling some of the clan about the demo that I first met you at up in Logan.

When was that 1987 or 1988? I just felt about 50 more whiskers turn grey! <img src="/forum/images/icons/wink.gif" alt="" />

I'm glad to have found you again, old friend!

Rob

[James_Knowles]

I was at first a bit worried of such demonstration held at school

I was kind of nervous, too, but we adapted quickly and focused on stuff that captured the attention of the age group. They were young enough (6-8th grade) that we could get their attention with some action. Don't try to just lecture.

We switched off speaking frequently, helped fill in, and took over when we started to stumble verbally. On the whole I think we worked together fairly well. No egos tried to upstage anybody else.


With highschool kids we may have had to use one or two for cutting demonstrations before we got their attention. That can be a rougher age group to work with.

Rob:

If I had to guess, I'd say spring 1988, but I'm not 100% sure. I'd have to determine whether there was a winter without Lauralee. I do have photos from that demo (including you piping) in a box in the basement. If I run across them I can scan them. I'll send you a private message if I find them.

[Shane Smith]

Teaching a group of young students is very satisfying. Matt Anderson and I did a similar demo at a local school and I was surprised by the interest it created after the blunt steel fencing we put on following a discussion of historical accuracy and sources for our Art. We did everything from blade attacks to throws in our gambesons and masks. The crowd was ecstatic as we followed the local sport fencers and 'til then, they were being talked about as the presentation of the night. We were able to change their minds! After the demo, Matt and I literally had dozens of people on our respective ends of the stage asking some pretty darn questions. Good stuff!

The downside? I made a bad edge-on rota against Matts zorn and although it still worked, did the sparks ever fly as my blade took a new notch...Bummer right?Nope, the bummer was that that was when the biggest crowd reaction came. Everyone loves a light show it seems and the sparks in the dim hall looked like a flashbulb to those kids...They thought it was part of the demo and loved it <img src="/forum/images/icons/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/forum/images/icons/grin.gif" alt="" />

[Justin Blackford]

Congratulations!
I did a demonstration a while back at the Senior Citizen's Center in my hometown. My grandmother ropes me into doing all sorts of volunteer work there, and she saw my weapon collection and set me up with a time slot during one of their meetings to explain the history of the weapons.
My father and I went up and explained to everyone there about the real history of the blades, trying like hell to dispel the myths that so many people are used to believing. I even showed a few basic sword moves such as the rising cut and the hanging parry to the exposed leg as well as some parrying action(on flat and not edge). Everybody there was very impressed.
Now, to see more and more demonstrations going on successfully is surely a sign that a once deceased martial art is being revived at full force.
Justin