TRAINING:
RANKING:
Tests and a ranking system no longer exist at NBD. Ranking systems are remnants of feudalistic hierarchical systems that are destructive to true martial arts practice. Belts and titles are part of a meritocracy that we seek to elevate from through martial arts practice. Titles and ranks create false ambitions in the particular, instead of inspiring the practitioner to holistically strive for empowerment and unification of body, mind and technique. Belts and rankings are false representations of real ability and lead to false practices and evaluations of oneself and others. Art, your cultivation in them, cannot be ranked or valued and does not exist at a stagnant or fixed level. Imagine if musicians and poets got black belts. It would corrupt these institutions even more than they already are, for there is already a hegemonic system and normalizing thoughts that seek to determine what good art is. In the street, at war, there is only your skill and your ability to put it into purposeful action.