Yaw Yan= sayaw ng kamataya (the dance of death). fma kickboxing that looks like muay thai. there are many differences though. right now there are two types of yaw yan. traditional (called footboxing) and hybrid, which incorporates grappling. founded by the great gm napoleon fernandez, yaw yan has spread here in the r.p. to be a system to contend with. in the 90s, the underground circiut saw the rivalry of yaw yan with the great bakbakan international school of master topher rickets. those were great times.
I didn't even KNOW there was an underground circuit. All I knew was that one of my cousins practiced that art and won a tournament on some remote island.
You might try contacting Jason Inay at http://www.inayan.com for info on So. Cal. FMA Great guy & should be able to help you out.
you could log on to: http://www.rochesterkali.com/ and email brother guro doug where his brother studied yawyan.
Blademaster John McCurry lives in Long Beach. He's very, very good but he strongly prefers blades over sticks and he doesn't care one bit about the art-part or the philosophical or spiritual side of any m.a. He just wants to study fighting. I have his phone number at home, but you can find him teaching knife fighting on Saturdays at the VDT Academy in Bellflower (www.serak.com, then click on VDT Academy). The Dog Brothers are next door in Hermosa Beach. Have you checked them out? The "Boxing Works" gym in HB used to have a class. Don't know if they still do.
for sticks try the DOG BROS. they teach fighting not just drills. www.dogbrothers.com Thier motto - "Higher Consciousness Through Harder Contact"
Maybe it's too far for you, but there's Dan Inosanto's school of FMA in Westchester. Past by it a few times, looks pretty cool, though I'm happy with the Muay Thai classes I'm taking right now. http://www.inosanto.com/ Inosanto Academy of Martial Arts| 7298 West Manchester Ave., Suite B | Los Angeles, CA 90045
