Last night, Tammy and I attended the CBK 2010 “Christmas Concert”. Mom and Dad were watching Ian for the evening. They had been selling tickets for a few weeks in the dojo, and the kids had been practicing their moves for their acts in class. I have to admit that I was preparing for something that was somewhat cheesy. I should have known better. For a bunch of martial arts guys, the senseis and sempais have a remarkable sense of both the dramatic and of humour. It was held at the Claremont Secondary School’s theatre, and Tammy and I were there early enough for dropping Miranda off that we got excellent seats. Tammy got the whole show on the video camera. I tried using my new iPhone for the pictures, but I obviously need to figure out the camera function better. Almost none of my pictures turned out. The only half-decent one of Miranda was this one, and it’s awful.
There were twelve acts to the show, with acts by the instructors interleaved with each of the student groups: beginners, black belt club 7 and under, black belt club 8 and over, and the masters club. As each student group finished their act, they got to come out front and watch the rest of the show. There was lots to see in the show. Most of it set to loud, energetic music. There were kata demonstrations, weapons demonstrations, self-defence, as well as a couple of comedy acts. One was set to Elvis’ Jailhouse Rock (can you imagine?) and the other was a enactment of the comedy skit Ti Kwan Leep. Sempai Jordan as Ed Grubermann was classic.
It lasted almost one hour exactly, and was very fast-paced. It had real streaks of amateurism in it, but it was a very effective show nonetheless. You might not guess it, but there was one part that Tammy was having trouble holding the camera steady because she was getting emotional. Not your average karate show, then. I don’t know about it being called a “Christmas Concert”, though. Other than being wished a Merry Christmas by Sensei Leigh at the end, there really wasn’t any Christmas content. There was music, but not being performed. “December Show” would be a better title, but that’s just picking nits. 🙂 It was lots of fun.
I’ve got one more bujutsu class this afternoon, then the whole family is fully “on vacation” until the New Year.
Yes it is a little fuzzy, but it’s plain to see that only Miranda seems focused on the event everyone else is ‘rubbernecking’