Burmese Art...Bando?

[Blue Panther]

Interested in hearing what you may have to say about the art Bando from Burma. If anyone is familiar, please chime in.

 

[jks9199]

Interested in hearing what you may have to say about the art Bando from Burma. If anyone is familiar, please chime in.

Which version?

I've trained in Bando in the American Bando Association for more than 20 years now; I enjoy it and think there's a lot to it. I've just scratched the surface. Dr. Gyi has moved into working and teaching primarily the Monk System, which is a "non-violent martial art", but there are many instructors around the country still teaching the basics and animal systems. Because ABA Bando is taught non-commercially, finding an instructor may take some hunting.

Phil Dunlap teaches a different version of Bando; check out his website at http://www.thaing.net. It's similar but has some different points of emphasis, based on what I've seen on his site.

Do you have a specific question, or are you just looking for basic info?

 

[Blue Panther]

JKS...Just looking for basic info really. I've found an instructor who's teaching under the Kung Fu umbrella with an emphasis on basics and the 9 animal systems, which come later in training. He emphasizes that each animal system is basically 'tuned' to body style, personality, and personal 'style' / ability. I'm new to Bando, coming from practicing Kempo, and looking to get a feel for the system and its benefits to my own training needs.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Thradrocket and a few others on the board practice Bando. Hopefully they can give you some more general information in the near future.

 

[jks9199]

JKS...Just looking for basic info really. I've found an instructor who's teaching under the Kung Fu umbrella with an emphasis on basics and the 9 animal systems, which come later in training. He emphasizes that each animal system is basically 'tuned' to body style, personality, and personal 'style' / ability. I'm new to Bando, coming from practicing Kempo, and looking to get a feel for the system and its benefits to my own training needs.

Drop me a PM with your instructor's name, if you don't mind; that's just for my own curiousity. I'm going to guess that you're training under the ABA based on where you live.

You've got the basic idea. The Bando core basics are a complete martial art in and of themselves; there are punches, kicks, blocks, parries, holds, throws, etc, as well as weapons (short stick, long stick, kukri and more). Each animal is almost a separate martial art built upon those basics, using particular strategies and specialized weapons to answer the questions of combat. For example, the Boar system uses elbows, knees, and fists, and explosive combinations in rushing attacks at close ranges while the Cobra uses precision nerve strikes at longer ranges generating power from speed and snap where the Boar uses muscle locking more than snap. But that's really oversimplifying them; the Cobra has elbows and knees and close range techniques and the Boar has long range techniques and speed techniques. Generally, I don't personally recommend too much emphasis on the 9 Animals until you're a black belt or near to black belt; you really need to learn the basics first. (The 9 Animals taught currently in the US are Boar, Bull, Tiger, Panther, Eagle, Cobra, Python, Scorpion, and Viper. Some are more commonly taught than others. Some have demanding requirements to qualify to learn them.)

Your teacher will guide you towards an animal system down the road based on your personality, your body, and your interests, and you may learn at least part of more than one. I've worked a lot with the Boar, some with the Bull and Cobra, less with the Tiger... and I've learned at least a few techniques from each of the others. But -- I've actually chosen over the last several years to spend most of my effort and time developing the basics. That's where my particular instructor put his time; it worked for him, it's working for me.

One of the things I like best about Bando is that we are a family; our national events and training events are more like reunions than many seminars or tournaments I've been to. I hope you're planning on going to Nationals in May; unless work prevents me, I'll almost certainly be there.