The Soundtrack to the World Clan Movement :: World Clan Colorado Recap /// By: Jenifer Hordinski

You know that vibe you catch when you put on your favorite gi, step on the mat, and get in the zone? That was the feeling we were all vibing on during the World Clan event on May 20, 2017 in Littleton, Colorado. We had about 80 practitioners at the Katharo Training Center, including a number of black belts, World champions, Pan American champions, NAGA champions, and Fight To Win champions all sharing their Jiu-Jitsu for the love of it.

The Denver BJJ scene has blown up in the last couple of years. There are competitors who are killing it on the local and international competition circuits, which naturally increases the competitive nature between schools. The essence of the World Clan event welcomed competitors and even practitioners from schools we hadn’t heard of into our academy to share not only Jiu-Jitsu, but their story. World Clan is an avenue for technicians to come together to talk story – sometimes Jiu-Jitsu is a by-product.

I had an idea of a music mix I wanted to play during the open roll sessions. Then Tone said to me, “okay so here’s the itinerary… and we play reggae music, specifically.” When my husband, Professor Steve Hordinski, and I started training together we would often play island music. I figured it was something we both had in common: I fancied that genre of music, and I thought it was a habit he adopted from training with Relson Gracie in Hawaii for so long. I didn’t quite understand the intention of reggae, but now I do. Reggae is the music of the World Clan movement and dare I say of the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Much like the scattering of Rastafarians and reggae music, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has experienced a similar diaspora moving from Brazil, to Hawaii, to California, further into the mainland and now it is becoming a major practice in other continents like Asia and Europe. Jiu-Jitsu has been influenced greatly by different styles, different games, and different philosophies.  Much like how reggae is a conglomerate of R&B, jazz, and ska music. Yet both the music and martial art remain anchored in their roots. We got to experience this first hand, as we had students from other states drive to the event just to roll. We had students from so many different backgrounds, yet because we all train we spoke one language that was the same. How rad is that?

So despite what noise you hear day-to-day or even when you’re rolling, rest assured that there is still a cause out there that is dedicated to bringing all practitioners together for the sake of the art and connection.