Learning self defence tops any girl's to-do list. And it needn't be the hardest thing in the world. In fact, being the victim may not be such a bad thing...Baisakhi Roy attended a Krav session and came out learning more than how to get out of a choke hold.

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T he evening after his 33rd birthday party, after dancing for six hours with the National Ballet and then spinning house music and drinking tequila with his wife at his place on the Lakeshore until 4 a.m., Jiri Jelinek says, "I'm dying just to be here." Then he sits down at Krav Maga, an Israeli martial arts studio at Dundas Street and Davenport.

Jelinek, a principal dancer with the National Ballet of Canada, began taking Krav Maga in Mexico City where he trained with the police force; when he moved to Toronto in January, he found this basement studio online. "It's one of the closest things to street fighting," says the Czech-born dancer. "You learn how to fight against knives.

"In Europe, I was boxing and Thai kickboxing all the time, but it doesn't really go with ballet, unfortunately."

Before class begins, Jelinek, wearing long cargo shorts and a T-shirt from the movie Scarface, dons a camouflage headband and heavy black sweats. "On a day like today, coming here is really hard, but life is a fight," he says. But as soon as the teacher turns Armin Van Duren up on the stereo, the hungover ballet star starts throwing hay-maker punches and devastating kicks.

"I feel better now," he says.

The hour-long class is populated twice a week by a dozen co-ed students.

Many, like Jelinek, sport elaborate tattoos, and the first half of the program is spent throwing combinations or punches and kicks into oversized pads christened "tombstones."

"My shoulders are on fire, man," Jelinek says.

The teacher explains that Jelinek punches so powerfully because he knows how to move from all of his dance training.

Throughout the class, the teacher shouts out encouragement. "You're going to get bumps and bruises in here so you don't bleed out there," he says, as he instructs his students to fall down on their backs and punch up at the tombstones over their heads.
"I can feel the tequila coming through my pores," Jelinek says with a smile
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The evening's last exercise involves the class splitting in half, with the tombstones thrown in between them, and the students racing on their bellies to fight for their pads. After nearly 50 minutes of punching, the objective of this exercise is to reach the tombstone first so that your opponent has to punch. On two occasions, when the instructor blows his whistle, Jelinek is first to the tombstone -- but then gives it to his opponent to hold so that he can punch more.

"I like to hit," he explains.

When the class is finally over, the instructor tells everyone to go home to cold showers. Jelinek laughs: "I'm off for a beer."

- Jiri Jelinek appears in Opus 19/The Dreamer through June 13. He stars in Onegin when the production mounts June 19. For more information, see national. ballet.ca.

bkaplan@nationalpost.com

Read more: http://www.nationalpost.com/Hurts+good/3145949/story.html#ixzz0rnaTGKkx

Krav Maga, which literally means contact or close combat, is a martial art featuring hand-to-hand combat techniques derived from street fighting and other martial art skills.

It is a tactical defense skill that emphasizes neutralizing threatening situations with alternating defensive and offensive maneuvers, while ensuring a quick and safe escape. Read More...

Source: The Canadian Jewish News

TORONTO — BBYO’s Lake Ontario Region members held an Up All Night for Israel event in support of Canadian Magen David Adom (CMDA) at Beth Radom Synagogue recently.

Emma Alimi, left, and Bailey Bernknopf, right, of BBYO’s Beth Radom chapter, are shown defence techniques by Rob Ferreira of Krav Maga Toronto.

At the April 25 event, national executive director of CDMA, Arnold Rosner, spoke to the teens about Magen David’s operations and recognized their efforts in raising more than $1,200 through the Up All Night initiative.

Rosner told the teens that the funds would be used toward the purchase an emergency airway passage pack by Magen David, Israel’s sole national emergency, medical, ambulance, and blood services society.

The teens also participated in a training session of Krav Maga, the official self-defence system of the Israel Defence Forces, led by Rob Ferreira of Krav Maga Toronto.

“The IDF training was definitely one of the highlights for me,” said Grade 9 student Jesse Freedman, who recently joined BBYO. “But the midnight falafel buffet and the Israeli folk dancing were also incredible.”

The event was one of BBYO’s first under the movement’s new Stand Up campaign.

“Stand Up is BBYO’s service, social justice, advocacy and philanthropy campaign that promotes teens getting involved in causes important to them,” said Kevin Goodman, program director for BBYO’s Lake Ontario Region.

For more information about BBYO in the GTA, contact Kevin Goodman at 416-398-2004, ext. 222, or kgoodman@bbyo.orgThis email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

— Compiled by CJN Staff

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