Flash

IMO, "flash" is/are those extra sounds, facial expressions, costumes, music, titles/team names, movements & techniques that make the kata/demo more fancy/attention-grabbing.

Definition: not "good enough" to capture the attention of a knowledgable audience (includes judges) w/o those little exreas. Form over function.

Examples of "flash" in the everyday world: Breast implants, Spinner wheels, trunk-mounted wing on a Ford Focus, Louis Vuiton...get it?

Adds nothing, impresses the lame, considered a joke by the rest of us, useless.

"But it looks cool!"...OK



owari

Thank you hedkicker, I mean the extras, the stuff that isn't a strike so much as just to be impressive or to scare your opponent. Stuff to make it look good.And I'm mostly refering to weapons routines, because that's where most people get caught up in what looks good but is not actually effective.

I still haven't gotten an anwer that I can use to reply with an answer. Are you doing a demo? Or is there a competition coming up? Are you setting up a booth at a local fair/festival to do demos and strike up some business? For the most part, I don't see the point in adding flash to a class when the person isn't going to need to do a public display. When you talk about weapons, the main reason for training them is to have something should a weapon of opportunity be available. Okay, so a three foot long stick won't cut like a sword, but if you know how to swing a sword you will do much better with it.

Flash is for the purpose of drawing a crowd in. Weapons are for the purpose of connecting with an older era, and to have a feel for how one should be used if necessary. Simple, straight forward techniques are what you should practice for SD.

Well, if you're talking about a demo, just a little, and I mean a little can do some good. In our demos we usually open up with two rows of people doing different kicks in a diagnol pattern, you know so that when the two people get to the center of the stage they almost look like they're going to hit each other. Usually we do play some music during that. However, we aren't doing any fancy spinning jump kicks or anything like that, it's all kicks we would normally do. Low roundhouse kicks, side kicks, front kicks, back kicks. Sometimes a person or two will add in a couple jump kicks but thats it. For the rest of the demo, its only stuff we would do in class, although in between certain things, we do do some breaking. After all the kicking, we'll usually line up and do blocking/punching combinations, then someone will do a break. Next we'll have a few people do forms, another break, then self defense techniques, followed by one step punching, one more break, then some sparring. So, yes I guess we do a little bit of "flash" in demos, but thats it.

I don't care if you add, "flash" to your fighting, kata, or weapons. It will have the following possible affects on me;

1. I'll laugh.
2. I'll think you're an idiot.

Flash is exactly what you describe it as. It adds nothing on q ualatative basis and says a lot about you. None of it favourable.

My father and I recently supported a friend of ours in hosting a martial arts tournament here in York, Pa. At one point, we were both called to be judges in the black belt empty hand forms division. We are of shotokan lineage, and practice a form called "empi".
One of the competitors came forward in a technicolor dreamcoat of a gi and announced he was going to perform "Empi...the flying swallow kata of shotokan..."
This poor fool had the unfortunate luck of having myself and my dad, both traditional shotokan martial artists, watching his atrocity of empi plus "flash". He would "kiai", if you could call it that (mostly just screaming), on every breath and at random, in the most peculiar way. If it wasn't a scream, there was plently of "sup" and "saaaaa" sounds throughout. Not to mention the wide eyed mean faces....

I couldn't even look at my father, cause I would've burst out laughing...it goes without saying that this guy came out near the bottom of the pile.

Thank You!

Using the term "flash": Flash should be used only in shows, how a way to atract people coming to beging to train karate. But in fights use only the essencial, 'cause karate says that we should take down the opponent with only one blow.

But who says it is wrong?

The Chinese from it came from was much more light and athletic...not heavy like the way we practice it.

If he showed you the bunkai, then perhaps he could have shown you why he was kiai-ing so often?

Kata shouldn't be judged on style...unless you do Shitei kata.

I doubt my own words, but someone performing a authentic White Crane form Matsumura or Go Kenki wouldn't go far in a WKF sanctioned tournament...

It's good that it does. I guess the guy doing Enpi might have looked ridiculous, but have you seen a real Loahan-Quan form?

Much, much more fast, flashy and quicker than the karate forms they gave rise to - again, you'd say the quality would be obvious, but I am doubtful.