Bolo Carenzas (Dances)

Bolo Carenzas- Derobio Style

The General told the GGM that Chinese merchants trading on the Island of Leyte introduced Kung Fu knife dances to the Derobio Masters. The Derobio Master incorporated the fluidity of Kung Fu into their style and developed their own one and two bolo carenzas.

Chief Master Gary Largo’s 2 bolo Calandza truly shows the fluidity and beauty of the style of Derobio

Even to today, carenzas are rarely seen by the public and are only done on special occasions. A carrenza is a dance that reflects the beauty of the style and the fluidity of the practitioner. Carenzas can vary greatly between styles and even within our own Derobio style. The best two stick carenza we have seen is on the web is in U-Tube Videos, by Grand Master SubingSubing.

In Derobio, there many centuries old carenzas and can be categorized into two main types: the one bolo and the two bolo knife dances. In a Derobio carenza, the dancer will defend each number followed by a flower, thus there are 12 defensive moves and 12 flowers to each dance. The defensive movement and flowers are taught with figure 8’s between each flower. As the student memorizes the patterns, the figures 8’s are then eliminated.

In a Derobio carenza the blade never stops moving, except for a few quick poses. In the GGM’s style of dancing, there is no stomping the floor with your feet, hitting your weapon(s) on the floor, no intentionally hitting your weapons together to make noise or yelling out during the dance. The main goal is to show the beauty and effectiveness of the style, to make the dance look effortless and fluid, while always looking up at the audience and not at your blade(s), and never turn your back to the spectators.

The GGM Pedoy’s knife dances were so beautiful that even if there was an audience of 500 people, every individual would stop talking and watch in total amazement of the beauty of the style and the fluidity of Derobio.

The entire Derobio knife dance is done in an extremely small area and the lower you can dance, the better you are considered. Carenzas can range from 30 seconds to two minutes, depending on the dance.  Derobio dancers usually don’t do well in tournaments because most rules require the dancer to cover the entire mat with their dance.

To maintain a good one or two bolo carenza, the practitioner must practice everyday or loss the pattern, timing and fluidity. Thus when you see a person do a long and beautiful carenza, you know that you are watching a very devoted Escrimador or Escrimadora.

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