In September Sempai Robin was invited to teach a “girls only” self defence course by the Canadian Highland Dance Association. The Dance Association was holding a weekend dance seminar at The Banff Centre on Saturday October 17, 2015. In addition to the dance curriculum the Dance Association fills the weekend with diverse interactive activities for the girls. This year they decided on a self defense class for the dancers as one of their choices, inviting Sempai Robin to teach the classes. At first glance it looked as though Sempai Robin would be teaching one class of young ladies self defense but as more information came to light it became a much bigger project. It was now confirmed the task at hand would involve teaching 6 classes, each comprising of approximately 25 young dancers ranging in ages of 5 to 22 years old. Realizing she would require assistance Sempai Robin inquired if I would be available to assist her in this endeavor. I happily accepted her invitation and shortly aselfder we began preparing a lesson plan for the day’s activities. Our day started bright and early with our first class beginning at 8:45 am. The girls were great, they seemed to really be interested in learning what we had to teach and had a great time practicing their newly learnt skills. Sempai Robin did very well in reading her audience and adapting the classes to accommodate the wide range of ages present. We had a great time teaching the girls and were very impressed by their ability and performance. The girls discipline and flexibility facilitated by their dancing background made them well suited for this self defense course. We would like to thank the Canadian Highland Dance Association for the opportunity to demonstrate the value of ladies self defense classes and providing us with such great students. Thank you Sempai Robin for including me in this project. Thank you Sensei Brad for your support and encouragement. OSU ! Lisa Forget
