On April 22nd we held an historic gathering at the Downtown Dojo - a reunion gathering of (almost) the entire NYC Uechiryu Karate club! Nancy Simoneski suggested the gathering, and 10 of us got up early on Sunday morning, took a double dose of Advil, and assembled in downtown Manhattan for our first workout together in years.
The reunion was not without its difficulties. The rented studio space was locked and we spent the first hour debating about how to actually access the space (crowbar, snap kick, or locksmith). With fond memories of Jay and Chris experience with "solid" walls and a much more mature outlook - we practices kata in the hallway while waiting for the locksmith.
Finally, the studio was opened and our anticipation came to an end. We began a traditional warmup - and quickly decided to expedite matters by having Rob Schulman lead us through a truncated high speed version of the Jomundo. Joints creaked, but there were no complaints as the group settled into the remembered rhthyms of the exercises. Warmups were followed by Sanchin kata, and sanchin tests, which were followed inexorably by kumite and finally individual Seisan and Sanseirui kata demonstrations.
Throughout the event I was struck by how little we all seemed to have changed - though our long seperation had allowed each of us to develop a very individual style. The karate I saw was very much an expression of self - attitude and personality infusing the movements and creating different meanings for the same kata.
There are more pictures of the event here!
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