Friday, December 23, 2011

Jamaica and Trinidad

Started workout last Thursday inspired by Chiron's post talking about smooth vs non smooth motion. One of my students pointed out that predators key on to prey through motion, and many types of prey do have jerky motion, especially when spoooked - think mice, sheep, antelope. Predators on the other hand tend to move smoothly so they can get in range to pounce - think big cats and wolves. Perhaps there is something primal in the way our eyes perceive motion that is clued in to this, both as prey and predator?
Anyway, what we ended up playing with was smooth vs not, being seen vs not being seen.
Fakes have to be seen - see the Buying and Selling post, and this is often achieved through a change in tempo (juke) to create a reaction, and therefore an opening you can take advantage of. A sudden motion is often key to making something happen.
OTOH a subtle tweak in tempo or smooth adjustment of angle can often be overlooked completely, and is most useful to take advantage of openings unseen by your opponent.
It is important not to confuse the 2, be smooth when you do not want to be seen, but be jerky when you do. Practice this. Sometimes you think you are moving in a certain way whereas your opponent can't see it at all.
Another point about fakes - Don't wiggle and juke more than twice, you are in danger of being caught if your opponent can read you. It's a binary system - the go, they do not. High/low. Left/right. And there's something about 'waltzing' that is innately human, so be very very careful if you can't pull something off within that timing.
Strike. Fake - strike/Fake - exit. Fake fake strike/Fake fake get the hell out of range. :-)
Happy Solstice.

2 comments:

Josh Kruschke said...

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

Smooth is interpretive - the ability to perceive the 'threads' of an encounter and determine and even momentarily fix, its shape. These threads stretch back into the person's past, each thread a series of interwoven strands fixed in the three personas - survival, emotional and rational. Smooth is predictive - seeing how these threads may come together in one of several possible near futures allow one to act or react with one's own, most efficient shape. And smooth is practical - more energy (effect) can be delivered 'on target.'