The school’s archive records three short courses offered around the time of the Saratoga Martial Arts Festival. These descriptions are from the historical program.

From Blade to Buah: Filipino Kali and Silat Melayu

The archive describes this workshop as a comparison of Filipino Kali and Silat Melayu. It traces the material to the academy’s Pekiti-Tirsia and Malaysian lineages and describes the instructors’ interest in connections between them.

The Core of Malaysian Silat

The Malaysian Silat workshop drew on the systems the academy studied in Malaysia. The announcement emphasized how those schools approached training and how their traditions differed from Filipino Kali.

The Yoruba Martial Art of Gidigbo

The Gidigbo session introduced a martial tradition indigenous to the Yoruba people of southwestern Nigeria. The original announcement described its ceremonial role at festivals and its sporting forms, as well as the people who have helped pass it on.

Read Guro Jeff’s account of Yoruba martial arts

Read the festival announcement