karen Posted December 10, 2005 This was a kicker.. I don't watch TV. I prefer not to be subjected to "programming" :-). But after watching a DVD on the TV, I switched to the FitTV channel and saw one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen. It was a series called Deadly Arts, showing a Canadian woman named Josie Normandeau who travelled around the world to study martial arts from various cultures. Â This particular episode showed her in India studying Kalaripayattu. Other episodes which I haven't seen yet include Capoeira of Brazil, Thai boxing (whatever the real name for that is), Karate, and a few others. Â The Kalaripayattu episode was stunning. At one point, there was a practice where a girl who looked to be a teenager was blindfolded. Other people were positioned around the room without moving, one was lying on the floor with what looked to be a large vegetable or gourd on his abdomen. The blindfolded girl approached him and cut cleanly into the vegetable without touching a hair on the guy. Â Then there was a lot of stuff that was very dance-like, aside from the ferocious stuff. I was so captivated by it that I looked to see if there is a video, and there is a DVD of the whole series but not in the U.S. and would come to $60 including shipping. So I thought I'd see about taping the episodes instead. Â There will be a repeat of the episode on Dec 17.. if anyone gets the FitTV channel (for me it's channel 20 on basic cable, where I get channels 1-20). Â If anyone is familiar with this form, I'd love to hear about it! Â Karen Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
karen Posted December 12, 2005 Update: The episode on Kalaripayattu is on Thursday 12/15 on FitTV at 9PM eastern, not 12/17. www.fittv.com for schedule. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lozen Posted December 12, 2005 Let me know if they do one on Filipino martial arts!! In fact, I'll even pay for a copy if someone will tape it for me. My teacher would LOVE it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
karen Posted December 12, 2005 Looks like this particular series doesn't include that.. "only" Japanese, Brazilian, Thai and Indian :-) Â http://tinyurl.com/9a998 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lozen Posted December 12, 2005 Ooh, it still looks so good though! If somebody buys it for the taobums library, and I will donate ALL of my Jackie Chan movies to the library. (Okay, I got those all for free, but still.) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
karen Posted December 12, 2005 Â Ya know, one thing that I especially liked about the Kalaripayattu segment was seeing how these young girls are trained.. who woulda thought?! Â k. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
