A pleasant athletic diversion

[Bill Glasheen]

Any of you folks who have been to camp a number of times through the years have probably met Rory Miller. In at least one of the camps, he came with his lovely wife Kami. One Sunday morning Kami got us started with an hour long class in... belly dance exercises.

I'm not a stranger to the field. A long-ago girlfriend was my first female black belt. She trained in belly dancing before she ever joined my class, and she turned out to be eminently trainable in class because of her discipline.

In any case, this is a branch of the art known as cane dancing. If you've done basic Okinawan weapons, you'll note that the actual cane movements are very simple. What is quite amazing - and mesmerizing as well - is her muscle isolation and the power of her legs/hips. She has an amazing ability to get her hips swaying and bucking while having the upper torso and arms do something quite different. I'm so impressed.

Enjoy!

Isidora Bushkovski - Cane Dance

And for what it's worth... Rory and I independently have been picking up aspects of the torso movement to enhance the core power in our martial movement. Rory was showing me some amazing stuff at camp - things that he picked up from his wife Kami.

- Bill

[Bill Glasheen]

Here's another great example.

Note the core movement. This is the kind of thing that some of us are pondering as we master the art of sequential summation of motion.

Irina Akulenko - "Justice" from "Tarot - Fantasy Bellydance"

- Bill

[gmattson]

I spoke with Kami (by phone) during this year's SummerFest. She is hoping to join Rory at next year's camp.

BTW, that sword dance in the 2nd clip is excellent. Thanks for posting the link Bill.