Regular readers of ye olde blogge will recall I have mentioned from time-to-time in a favorable light the SoAfrican knife art, Piper. The most recent posting was a review of Eric Petermann's book on Piper's basics, which I found to be well-done and worth getting.If you couldn't drop by a class in South Africa, I said, this book would be as close as you could get, and enough to get a taste of what certainly seems to me be one of the nastier knife arts out there. It gets right to the heart of sharps, and while pieces of it look passing familiar to those of us in silat or kali, it's different. The rhythms aren't the same.
There are some videos on YouTube, and if you watch them, you'll see some stuff that is very interesting in terms of movement.
Well, turns out that in my review I was right -- and wrong. The book is good, but Lloyd de Jongh, one of the system's founders, (under Nigel February), is coming to the U.S., where he will be giving at least one public seminar, and possibly others. So you will be able to see it first-hand.
This seminar is going to be in San Diego -- La Mesa -- at a dance studio, 8241 La Mesa Blvd. on Saturday, May 22nd, starting at 1 p.m.
I would love to do this, but am up to my ass in literary alligators all full of ticking clocks, and won't be able to make it -- though if I lived in SoCal, I would probably steal the time anyhow.
If you are a serious knife guy and have any interest in seeing what all the hoopla is about and you can get there? You should consider it. I can't help but believe it will be most educational.
Lloyd will post updates on his blog, and you can contact him via the link there.
Lot of folks around the country, it's a long haul, but it's only a couple hours from L.A., and Lloyd is also going to be spending a bit of time in the Simi Valley, which is an even shorter drive.
This is the first opportunity people in the U.S. will have to see a master of this art here. If you play with sharps and want to see how a culture from a different part of the world than SE Asia expresses things with their blades? Go check it out.
1 comment:
Thank again for the support Steve. There are so many fantastic people I have come to know from the US that I am hoping to meet as time and opportunity allows.
The US has been the home of amazing creativity and exceptional skill in the martial arts - so this will be an adventure of note for me.
The local book stores in Dubai are a bit thin on the ground with your novels, but I'm going to pick up one or two this weekend for my flight and travels ;) Erik is a great fan of your writing, it was he that introduced me to your books.
I will have my BlackBerry with me, so I'll be on email.
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