Dance
Center (School of the Performing Arts) - AIKIDO
The
Dance Center, located in the heart of Bangkok, is
one of Thailand's premiere ballet and modern dance
academies. However, as we at thailand-road.com have
come to find, the Dance Center is much more than that.
Kim McGregor, Director of the school was kind enough
to offer thailand-road.com a chance to ask him some
questions. This is what he had to say:
J:
Tell me about the Dance Centre?
K:
The school opened in 1983 teaching classical ballet
and slowly grew adding more courses. Three years ago
we launched Thailand's first contemporary-dance-theatre-company
"The Company of Performing Artists" Thailand
for professional dancers.
J:
Is it mostly European dance?
K:
The dance themes are often adaptations from traditional
Thai folklore.
J: Did you plan for
things to happen the way they have with regard to
Dance Centre?
K:
Naturally, there was a direction:
a mission that was in our mind however all organizations
are apt to take on their own life. Some ideas have
not worked but many have, things never turn out exactly
the way you plan them!
J: How did you become
involved in martial arts?
K: I
had Rheumatoid-Arthritis. I tried western medicine
with limited success, eventually, I went to India
to an Aravadic clinic. The doctors placed me on a
specific course and advised me to change my diet and
life style and undertake regular daily exercises.
I tried jogging and weight lifting but they weren't
for me. Around this time I met Fukakusa Sensei an
he encouraged me to start Aikido training. Over a
period of time I found that by regular adherence to
this program there was improvement to my ailment so
that I could lead a normal life..
J:
How did you find yourself in Thailand?
K: I
used to work in hotel management and then later in
hotel development in Thailand.
J:
Do you think that alternative health systems will
increase in popularity in Thailand?
K: Today,
many western style hospitals are opening their door
a little bit wider to integrate supportive systems
of medicine (this includes Chinese traditional medicine
(herbal and acupuncture) yoga systems etc.. Ten years
ago in Thailand the allopathic (western) medicine
community looked down upon folk medicine as being
old fashioned: this attitude is now changing. In the
last two years there has been an official government
policy to encourage folk and oriental medicine, prior
to that there was a very high objection at the government
level to alternative medicine.
J: I have always thought
that western medicine is a "quick fix."
K: Western
medicine is apt to cure the symptoms rather than the
cause. My father was actually a medical doctor (in
London UK): medicine then was much more personal.
They had personal contact with the patients and a
good idea of the social environment that they lived
in. In England there was one doctor for two thousand
people, the doctors would go on house calls and know
the whole family. These days everyone goes to a hospital
where the patient might have a new doctor each visit.
The doctors don't necessarily know you as an individual
so diagnosis is more difficult. I certainly believe
that for certain aliments homeopathy and natural medicine
etc. has a definite place as it is non-intrusive.
Under certain conditions it is wise to use surgery
and/or antibiotics. Antibiotics however are often
abused and dished out like candy. The goals of the
new programs that we offer at Dance Centre school
of performing arts in the Mind/Body disciplines are
aimed to keep the body in the best condition as possible.
We focus to bring optimum health to the individual
(taking into consideration age, sex, general fitness
and interests of the individual). Our job is not to
cure people whom are sick (those whom have medical
problems should seek proper medical advice from qualified
physicians). We focus on well people and together
agree on a suitable program (which suits their personality
and individual characteristics) to bring them to optimum
health. There is no "quick fix", our classes
are taught over a long period of time and with regular
daily exercise there will be marked improvement.
