Sayoc Kali Sama-Sama 2011

I attended this year's Sayoc Kali's Sama-Sama. Sama-Sama is a Filipino (tagalog) name for gathering or coming together. This happens once a year. I had a good time at this year's sama-sama. I felt honored to be a part of this art that Pamana Tuhon Sayoc has shared. I will offer my thoughts on what you can expect if you attend one in the future. Also, a good article to read is called Family by Guro Joey Marana. He writes about his experience at this year's sama-sama.

Sama-Sama is a good time to see old training partners and make new ones. Sayoc Kali is an evolving blade art and each year SK presents an assorted training material. Most information is new that helps facilitate our training. You can expect testing of skills from transitional drills to quick draws or projectiles. There is also a blade simulator tournament where only head shots or heart thrust will end the match. Sometimes there are melee blade fights where they split people into teams to test our group dynamics.  Each year SK also invites a guest speaker to share their art. This year's guest instructors were Guro Victor Gendrano Jr and Guro Mike Pena. Guro Victor G. is a instructor under Guro Dan Inosanto who shared a stick drill with us. While Guro Mike P. who runs the Bayani Warrior Group from New Jersey, shared a single-stick flow drill and also a stick n' dagger drill. The Atienza Kali tribe also shared their Bolo Evolution 1 material. Every day there is material being presented. There is even night training. Also during the night, there is a sayaw that is performed.

Sayaw at this sama-sama was a satisfying experience for me. Sayaw translates to 'dance'. It is done with a long blade in hand (usually a trainer) dancing around a fire pit with drums as the beat in the background. Everyone is encouraged to perform. No one is judged on how good their technique or fluid their motion looks. It is a dance that reflects you and your training. Each one's blade dance is different. It is always beautiful to see how the master instructors (tuhon's) and higher guro's perform in the sayaw. It was also great to hear from the tuhon's and guro's what sayaw meant to them. To some, it was a way to show respect to the warriors and instructors who kept the filipino martial arts alive. To others, it was a way to bond together as a family unit and support each other as warriors in life.