Training with Guro Danny again

This weekend I drove four-and-a-half hours to Minneapolis to the Minnesota Kali Group school to train with Guro Danny Inosanto.

Danny was one of Bruce Lee’s senior students, and his choice to carry on his art of Jeet Kune Do. Since Lee’s death, Danny has learned and taught… probably more martial arts than most martial artists have even heard of.

I trained with Guro Danny twenty years ago, perhaps about a hundred seminar-hours over 4-5 years since Terry Gibson invited me to become an associate student of his. I travelled regularly to Tulsa (about two hours drive away) to train at Terry’s Progressive Fighting Arts Academy (later Progressive Martial Arts) in Tulsa. As well as training with Terry I attended almost all the seminars in Terry’s school, with teachers such as: Ajarn Surichai Surisute, Muay Thai; Paul DeThouars, Pentjak Silat; Paul Vunak, Jeet Kune Do; Nino Bernardo, Wing Chun; and others.

I also trained closer to home with Sifu John Douvier of the Wu Wei Gung Fu/Mushin Kan lineage.

I hadn’t seen Danny in almost 20 years, since I took off for Poland in 1991. Of course he didn’t remember me when I reintroduced myself. He’s probably met as many people in the past 20 years as the population of some countries I’ve lived in.

It was great. Though just like I remembered, it’s a lot like trying to drink from a fire hose. Danny’s approach is to throw an awful lot of stuff at you, in 2-5 minute bites in rapid-fire succession, switching arts and styles constantly.

Still, what was inspiring was seeing Danny again; lively, quick, agile, witty and sharp, much the same as I remember him, minus some hair.

He’s 73!

Speaking as a 58-year-old with two small children – it’s a real upper.