The story goes… as I understand it… Chad was doing an interview for an FMA podcast with Bruce Chiu and a handful of other direct students of the late Remy Presas, and the subject came up of how thorough Chad’s interpretation of FMA had been translated into Progressive Arnis, as opposed to some of the other Modern Arnis evolutions by this generation’s Grand Masters. Progressive Arnis includes entire systems including Modern Arnis, Cacoy Canete Doce Pares (CDP), Cadena De Mano, Kuntao Silat de Thouars, and concepts from Kali Illustrisimo, Piper, Kelly Worden’s staff system, Bram Frank’s Modular Blade Concepts, a little Jiu Jitsu, some American Kenpo, Tai Ji, and influences from a thousand other arts — or so one can tell. Anyway, the claim was made that any Progressive Arnis Lakan could test and obtain a Modern Arnis Lakan with a minimal degree of preparation; just to learn the nuances. Truth be told, most of the Modern Arnis curriculum is covered by the purple belt level in PA.
With that challenge, Chad made an announcement to his instructors that Bruce Chiu and Bram Frank would participate in a Modern Arnis testing event at the 2023 Progressive Arnis Instructor Camp. Chad Bailey and Brian Zawilinski also endorsed the promotion of all the PA Lakans in attendance, to Lakan Isa (1st degree) in Modern Arnis, and the promotion to Green Belt and Brown Belt for some of the other instructors in attendance that were up for a testing challenge.
Some of the nuances to the Modern Arnis curriculum, specifically Bruce Chiu’s Arnis International — one of the few Modern Arnis systems that have a documented curriculum, was the requirement to know and demonstrate 6 empty hand anyos, and also 4 stick/bolo anyos. Modern Arnis has a different striking system than Progressive Arnis, having a 12 angle striking pattern, with 5 thrusts. Modern Arnis’s striking system, containing so many thrusts, incorporates stab-through or snap-back strikes, which can be paired with flow-and-cut or controlled strikes. Progressive Arnis, having only one thrust of the 11 angles of attack isolates the 4 methodologies as separately demonstrable. Because MA has a different striking system, the contradas and disarms are also slightly different, although the concepts for most are similar. GM Bruce Chiu has also integrated disarm counters, a couple of double stick drills, and some advanced joint locks he has made possible with a stick from his influence by Wally Jay and Professor Presas.
Lakan Jason May delivered another thought-provoking session on the psyche of an instructor, including the importance of mental presence and focused intention. Each instructor also did a 10-minute session on some advanced concepts borne from their unique background and interests. A delicious paella satiated the crowd on the second night, and the camp closed as it traditionally does with feedback from the attendees.
I was unfortunately unable to attend this year’s second annual instructor camp, but I intend to learn and test in Modern Arnis at the next possible opportunity, to strengthen my fundamentals, continue my martial journey, and represent the cadre of Progressive Arnis instructors that raise the bar at every encounter.
