Entrepreneurs Creative Edge

Finding Finesse

匠 (takumi), Finesse, Skill, Craftsmanship. Calligraphy by William Reed.
Frame and presentation by CarreMOJI. http://www.carremoji.jp

Finesse is one of my favorite words. It means a power which can be natural or acquired, a knack, a gift, a genius or talent for something, having what it takes.

It is something admired in many cultures, but particularly cultivated in Japan, and of course in France, which is where the word comes from.

It is the skill of craftsmanship and diplomacy, of both art and communication, and it is a fine thing to have.

Read more about Finding Finesse in my column Creative Career Path on Daijob.com.

Off Your Seat and Onto Your Feet

How much of your life do you spend sitting, lying down, or eating, without exercising or using your legs?

Unless you are planning to spend a lot more time that way, think twice about the consequences of a sedentary lifestyle.

Have you considered the now well established connection between positive attitude and health?

Negative thinking can spoil your relationships, ruin your health, and shorten your life.

Some people have learned how to connect the two, using your legs in walking or running, and improving your attitude. Two birds, one stone.

Read more about it in my syndicated article, Getting on Your Feet.

Get off your seat, and on to your feet!

YouTube Channel Power

Check out my YouTube Channel Page, where in one place you can scroll and select from dozens of videos I have posted to YouTube.

NANBA: Out of Trouble and Into Opportunity

I've got a new article about NANBA up on my Creative Career Path Column, entitled NANBA: Art of Physical Finesse.

Learn the origins of the word Nanba, and why it pairs danger with opportunity.

Find out what Nanba has in common with improvisation in Jazz.

See why early hardships sometimes forge strong survivors, and people who have it easy in the beginning often lose out in the end.

Discover the 3 core principles of Nanba, and where you can go to learn how to put it into practice.

You can also read this article in the September 2 edition of the DAILY YOMIURI NEWSPAPER, or Download NANBA Art of Physical Finesse as a PDF.

If you haven't already done so, please also visit my Webbrain on the same topic, which contains lots of links and attachments to help you apply Nanba to help you find your way out of trouble and into opportunity

Nanba-Finesse.com

http://www.nanba-finesse.com/

I have started a new site to house the contents for Nanba Art of Physical Finesse. The upper blue window is navigable, and will be updated regularly.

The links and attachments appear in the lower white window, and can be accessed to view or download.

In addition, I will also use an interactive Webbrain to conduct online presentations. NANBA ART OF PHYSICAL FINESSE Online will contain the same contents, but can be used to conduct webinars in which I can navigate and present the contents live.

Feel free to bookmark both, and look for content updates as well as announcements of webinars to come.

NANBA Lifestyle Big Picture

Click on the Image above to get the NANBA Lifestyle Big Picture.

This also serves as an index to the NANBA ART OF PHYSICAL FINESSE Online Webbrain.

I have added to the Webbrain since uploading it, particularly in the area of NANBA TRAINING SECRETS, NANBA WALK/NANBA RUN, with new branches, information, and photos under Nike + iPod.

NOTE: The Webbrain displays as an upper navigation window and lower attachment and notes window. To download attachments and open web links, click on the icon that appears in the window below the navigable map.

This software is still in the beta stage, and is occasionally taken offline for short periods of maintenance. If you are not able to open the file, we apologize for the inconvenience. Please try again later.

The contents in this Webbrain will continue to grow, so join me as it evolves!

NANBA ART OF PHYSICAL FINESSE ONLINE

Nanba Art of Physical Finesse is an interactive exploration of the world of Nanba, a online navigatable map to help you get engaged in this art at your chosen level. Here is where you begin.

NANBA: THE ART OF PHYSICAL FINESSE

Finding your way out of trouble and into opportunity.

Recognizing the inherent connection between mind and body, NANBA is a way to be and develop yourself to your full potential, combining the arts of improvisation and physical finesse.

It is a way to enhance performance and reduce stress, drawing on principles of natural design and movement, based on 3 core principles:

1. Don't Force
   
   
2. Don't Twist
   
   
3. Don't Disconnect

Though Nanba has highly developed forms in Japanese culture, it exists under different names in all cultures, and can be applied by anyone to anything from enhancing enjoyment of daily life to improving professional performance.

Start with the branch titled, EXPLORE THE WORLD OF NANBA, and from there follow your curiosity in the other branches.

This is a living Webbrain, and it will be updated regularly both in the attachments and the links to follow.

Enjoy your exploration into the World of Nanba, and if you have any questions feel free to contact the author William Reed, at reedwill@mac.com

Taiko Tap at Toho Gakuen

Taiko Tap at Toho Gakuen

As a Nanba Instructor, I teach Tap Dance at Toho Gakuen College of Music. This school is also the center for Nanba training in Japan, and a number of teachers in the Physical Education Department specialize in applying Nanba to specific courses, such as dance, martial arts, and sports, and because it is a music college, we also help students apply Nanba movement to improving their finesse and performance skills as musicians.

Getting ready to attend the Japan EXPO in Paris in July, I am working on finding Tap rhythms that work with Japanese music. Part of my performance there will be Nanba Tap.

This 1'22" video is a glimpse of the fun improvising and finding ways to weave the Tap rhythms in with the Japanese Taiko drum, played here by fellow Nanba Instructor Koya Sensei.

Nanba is perfect for improvisation, because you focus on how your body feels inside, and connect that to what is happening outside. The basic principles of Nanba help you find physical finesse in whatever you do.

Stage Fright is in Your Favor

This is a 3'45" video clip from my  Nanba Tap Class at Toho Gakuen, where I teach Tap Dance to classical music students. I am speaking to the students, but here is a summary in English of what I said in Japanese.

Do you ever get nervous before a performance? I think most of us have experienced stage fright, when we have to perform in front of people under pressure. We feel like our nervousness is not only obvious to everyone watching, but that it might seriously spoil our performance. 

We tend to believe that being nervous will prevent us from doing our best, and might even lead to serious humiliation if we fail.

Have you ever heard of whistling in the dark? It is what you are supposed to do if you find yourself afraid in a dark place. The problem is that it is easy to whistle when things are going fine, but almost impossible when you are nervous. How do you get yourself out of trouble when you are in trouble?

Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine, who has college age kids like you. When he was in Junior High School, he was a 13-year old nervous kid who had played the trumpet for only about six months, but for some reason decided to try out for the band. There were over a hundred kids auditioning for the band, and to his horror, the band leader insisted that each student audition in front of their peers, the entire group!

Names were drawn at random, and each student had to perform. It wasn't so much the audition itself, as doing anything in front of his peers that terrified him, teen-aged boys looking for any chance to look cool or make someone else the fool.

My friend was nervous to the point of fear, and prayed that his name might not be called. But no one was to be spared this ordeal, and when his name was called, his hands were shaking badly as he put the trumpet to his lips. He was sure that everyone was watching his every move, and that he would not only fail the audition, but would be the laughing stock of the school for months to come.

Somehow he managed to play to the end of the song, but instead of ridicule and laughter, he was overwhelmed by applause and congratulations!

His nervousness and hands shaking had inadvertently produced a beautiful vibrato effect in his trumpet playing, something he had never been able to do in practice sessions! He was suddenly a hero in front of his peers, and not only passed the audition in colors, but was awarded first chair in the band!

It is the same in Tap, when you dance in front of others, or when people are watching you dance, it is easy to get self-conscious. When you perform on stage in front of a large number of people the pressure is even greater, and you may find yourself like my friend, caught in less than positive imaginings of what might go wrong.

However, if you learn how to use the vibrations of your nervousness, the vibrato of your body's energy and excitement, you can actually end up performing better than you do in day to day practice.

In any case, nervousness is nothing to fear. Stage fright can actually be in your favor.

Nanba Chaplin Step makes Roadrunners

In mid-May, I took a group of Waseda University students who are members of my Shunsoukai (瞬想会, Quantum Leap) Group, (my Physical Finesse Dojo, and we did a Nanba Run around the Nippon Budokan.

This shows a warm up exercise we do to lighten our step before a Nanba Run. If upper and lower body are not coordinated you cannot move this fast. It also keeps you floating like a butterfly, and makes you a faster runner.

After an incredibly enjoyable warm up session, we made our 5 km run in about 40 minutes. Though none of the students were experienced runners, the group managed the Nanba run smoothly without muscle soreness or fatigue.

Nanba shortens the learning curve and increases both speed and endurance for any runner.

Here is some photos from the warm up session. 

Real Nanba Roadrunners! Catch me if you can!!

We also tracked it with Nike+iPod, and here too are the results.

 

 Next month we may do a Nanba Walk, visiting some areas of Tokyo that have some interesting history.