Black Belt Spectacular - Nov 2007

The ceremony for receiving our black belts is held at the Parker Playhouse.


The show blends karate & self defense skits; demos of XMA, Muy Thai, weapons (some with glow routines); some boarding breaking by Shihan Moti Horenstein (8th degree) and group and individual displays of skills by those earning new black belt levels. We had 36 kohei earning new levels of black belt: one 4th dan, three 3rd dans, four 2nd dans, and 28 new first degree black belts.

Four schools contributed and it was probably half kids, half adults. The preparation is more like the rehearsal for a show than training for karate.

The show itself was a blast. Plenty of nerves. The drama for me was that at the rehearsal right before the show, when the time for my solo came, I froze. KC, Kyoshi, and a few other people yelled out: "Do something!". I had to agree with them, it would be good to do something. After awhile, I threw a pair of bunches and kneeled down again thinking: "Did I just freeze? I can't freeze. I'm not even nervous". Right.



The show itself went very very well. It was fast-paced. The performances were clean and dramatic. Us first degree black belts were competent, sometimes showy. The higher ranks were not just competent but had pizzaz and technique to burn. Great show.

And of course, after the show, there was some festivities!

Two groups of us ended up in the same restaurant (Buca de pepe).

And then on Sunday, more get-togethers. I'd like to make habbit of it.