What do you think of martial arts demonstrations?

I do a lot of martial arts demos it%26#039;s like one of my favorite aspects of marital arts, but i want to know that other people think about it|||I have been doing karate demonstration for 12 years in many cities in California. At first, we used to do karate demonstrations as ways to promote the dojo and the art.





We used to do at least 6-7 demonstrations per year mainly at Cultural Festivals and major events such as Cherry Blossom Festivals, Armed Forces Day and even at the Dodgers Stadium.





As the years goes by, I began to re-think the true value of karate demonstrations. Nowdays, I have decided to let new members of my dojo as well as my intermediate and advanced students to participate in small and semi large venue demonstration. I used this opportunity for all my white / Green / Brown belts to %26quot;practice%26quot; their forms for the upcoming tournament in front of a semi-large crowd.





This has worked well for me for the last three years as by the time the tournament day arrive, My group are pretty much ready to compete minus the nervousness and fear of being in front of a large crowd.





This are my personal thoughts and hope you like them !





PS: Here%26#039;s a small gallery from Dojo -





http://www.alljapankarate.com/gallery/ga...|||They are great way to lure people into a art and i see it as a Kata with people in it... so instead of imagining blockin a kick you will block a kick it is also great to think of what to do if you were in the certain situation only thing is that everythin wont come out as you said on the streets but you have an idea of what you can do... so in the end they are great|||Demo%26#039;s are great, nothing wrong with them. Not the best thing to have focus on, its much better to have a focus on some sort of competition but getting up in front of alot of people and performing is all part of handling yourself under pressure and is better than not doing anything. I dont for a second think that a good demo means the person can fight well but if a person can fight and can do a great entertaining demo as well, it just makes him so much better a martial artist in my book|||Depends on what the demos are about. Personally I enjoy demos that show power, speed and good technique. Demos that are flashy and have little practical application not so much. I believe you can learn from a good demonstration.|||Sometimes they%26#039;re cool, sometimes they are elegant and sometimes they are BS, pure and simple. I like it when they pass out refreshments.|||I feel that its a Great way to express yourself and your style. It%26#039;s the next best thing beside getting into the ring and fighting. So I would say stick with it, keep at them there great !|||Boring|||i dont like it because i train to fight,but i respect it because it takes discipline top learn it