kata
Jean Frenette, Performing Goju-Ryu Karate Kata And Beyond
Lately, I have been following a number of my fellow martial arts bloggers publish rather intriguing and very insightful posts on the intricacies of kata.
And I must say, while reading these posts I have been learning or better re-learning after many years of not practicing or even performing Shotokan karate katas, which I happen to have thoroughly enjoyed in a former life.
During those kata-filled years there was a Franco-Canadian Goju-Ryu karateka, by the name of Jean Frenette, who really infused the love and excitement for kata in me like no one I had ever experienced before.
He exuded incredible energy and unmatched esthetics all while somehow masterfully combining slow and fast portions of each kata that he displayed.
His superb skills helped him win a stunning five World Championship titles.
Here is a real classic demo reel of Jean Frenette performing with music and I know it’s probably more artistic than martial for some people’s taste, but technically it’s way up there.
And great performers like Jean Frenette most certainly have inspired quite a large number of people to start and even continue their martial arts/karate practice. That’s definitely a good thing.
What I also found interesting about Jean Frenette was that after a very successful karate career he moved on to the movie industry.
One of his earlier roles was in Police Academy 4, in which he played a karate instructor.
During the years he has been a stunt performer in many, many movie productions.
As of late, he was the stunt coordinator in movies such as ‘Eye of The Beholder’ starring Ashley Judd as well as ‘The Aviator’ directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsdale, Jude Law and many more well-known names in Tinseltown.
His extensive karate training continues to come in pretty handy for Jean Frenette as a stunt performer and now as a stunt coordinator.
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