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We did a demo last night. I was totally wired before hand. (In fact when I was asked to do it I felt the gag reflex in my gut.) I'd never done one before and I wanted to do well for the dojo.
The guys said it's not a big deal and to enjoy myself…that it would be fun.
We were supposed to be the first group of martial artists to go on at 7:00. We were all ready by quarter to, but didn't get on stage until 8:00 or so. They were waiting for more of a crowd to arrive as it was out in a public place and they weren't charging or anything.
By 8:00 my nervous energy was replaced with "let's get this over with, I wanna go home and eat."
I don't remember what happened during the demo. Just that I had to do shomen attacks when I first went up. (I heard a woman in the crowd say, "Go girl!") Later on for tanto disarming I had to do yokomen and tsuki attacks. I remember having to flip a couple of times but that's about it.
I forgot about the crowd too. They kind of disappeared what with all the spotlights on us. That was weird.
We were on an elevated stage made of wood with thin mats over top. So whenever anyone of us went down we made a lot of noise when we hit the mats. The louder the noise, the bigger the "oooooh" we got from the crowd. Oh yeah the stage was small so we couldn't really be thrown. The sandans who were demonstrating did pins and made us breakfall. There was an occasional roll but they had to hold back on the throw or we'd go off the stage and fall 4 feet to the ground.
But the most important thing is I HAD FUN. And I'd do it again!
10-06-2005 10:50 AM 