Odd Lessons
It’s funny. I find that my observation of many things has greatly changed since I started taking karate. I don’t remember this kind of change when I was taking ballet or running track and cross country. Of course, I was about 8 when I took ballet, and I only got to take for about a year, so I probably wasn’t into analyzing the physical processes then. And I was in high school when I ran — again, not a time when most of us are analyzing such things particularly deeply — at least, I wasn’t. I was more interested in analyzing the attractive young men on the men’s track and cross country teams.
Anyway, I’m watching the pairs skaters at the Olympics, and I find it a different experience from the last time I watched … four years ago. And I noticed the same thing the other night, when I was watching some of the old John Wayne westerns.
I’m a girl. And I’m not much of an athlete. So I used to pretty much tune out during the fight scenes in the movies. Not anymore. Now I find myself analyzing the fight. Noticing the different combinations and skills that the fighters employ … even though I know it’s a choreographed fight.
And when I’d watch the skaters, I was more interested in the costumes, the staging and presentation, and the coordination of music and choreography. Now I find myself analyzing how they set up their leaps and throws, noticing things like the fact that the skaters never straighten their legs fully.
All this athletic behaviour seems predicated on the same principles of motion. I’ve noticed that karate, like ballet and skating, relies on the plie to generate power and mobility in the legs. Okay, my Sensei doesn’t call it “a plie,” but that’s what it is. Same with the turnout. Sensei doesn’t call it “turnout,” but the principle is the same. And I notice in the skating that plie and turnout are crucial in the landing of jumps.
And then there are spins. In ballet, one of the first skills we learnt was “spotting”: focusing on a particular point so that you didn’t get dizzy when turning. Now, I’ve known for ages that skaters have to “spot” if they are going to do those incredible, fast-paced spins. But it was quite a shock to me when I started learning spin kicks, only to hear my Sensei using almost the same words that my ballet teacher used three decades ago to teach me to pirouette.
And then there is the jete. Another skill we learned in ballet. And used in long-jump and in running (coming off the blocks is a lot more like a jete than you might think). Used, too, in skating, for those lovely leaps and throws. And in karate. Because, as Sensei keeps telling us, jumping kicks are intended to cover a lot of ground, which is precisely what a jete does in ballet, skating, and the long-jump.
I would never have thought that cross-country running, the long-jump, karate, ballet, and figure skating would have so much in common.
2 Comments
I do the same thing. I don’t know if my students get it. I was talking to them last summer about women’s fast pitch softball and my observations. I don’t know if any of it sunk in but the motion for power is right there for all to see.
Oh, Alan, that’s interesting, because we have a softball player in our class, and I’ve heard our Sensei talk with her about parallels between softball and certain aspects of our karate training. Fascinating the way it all ties together!