Dentoy Revillar Education Focused

For decades Dentoy Revillar educated others through his teaching, lectures and demonstrations about Eskrima.  Local, and out of state, Filipino martial artists would stop by his personal training sessions as guests.  Those classes and his public demonstrations captivated their attention, both the younger and older generations. 

 

In the earlier years, Dentoy and Angel provided demonstrations with whatever came to their minds. They were both extremely skilled, so most people thought their demonstrations were rehearsed.  None of them were, they just did what came to mind.   

 

When Dentoy parted ways teaching with Angel, he turned his demonstration's focus towards being more educational oriented.  His students would assist him in the demonstrations and he began narrating over their performance.  Dentoy never did anything second rate, and the SLD Eskrima demonstrations were always the favorites in the Stockton area.  His students were so well trained, that many in the audiences believed they were instructors themselves.  His narration for the background included Eskrima' s history in the Philippines, its history in Stockton, and application behind the sticks.   Everyone on stage was exceptional and awe-inspiring. If you watched the demonstration they did in the 1980s today, you're bound to learn new things today about the Filipino martial arts from Dentoy's commentary, and would learn something new from the techniques used by his students.  

​

Then the Dentoy Revillar  and Bobby Antuna era began.  This is when Dentoy was joined on stage for demonstrations by his student and family member, Bobby Antuna.  The landscape of Eskrima in Stockton, California changed forever.  When those two went on stage together, whether they were at tournaments, local festivals, or fairs alike, the audiences went wild.  No two Eskrimadors in the U.S. shared a stage together that demonstrated Eskrima like those two before, or ever again.  Unfortunately, Bobby left the Stockton Eskrima community and the SLD Eskrima family when he passed away on August 18, 2012. RIH Bobby.

 

The younger generation appreciated Dentoy's demonstrations because his applications were practical.  They also appreciated his extremely fast movements that were surgically precise.  However, Dentoy made a point to always teach what he demonstrated.  He would teach that you should never sacrifice the quality of your techniques for speed.  However, Dentoy had both quality of techniques and speed.  Everyone appreciated his demonstrations with Bobby, because Bobby was a much larger and stronger person.  In addition, Bobby was not a compliant partner during demonstrations, or during practice.  You could tell he stroked that stick hard on every strike, and on disarms he resisted. The older generation watching, particularly the older Manongs, also loved Dentoy's demonstrations.  They appreciated Dentoy's 'old school' character that he narrated the truth in his lectures and 'old style' Eskrima with the realism that he emphasized in his movements. 

 

The following photographs are from some of the classes and demonstrations of Dentoy Revillar teaching.