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Sensei Michelle Gay, CMA, RSME/T |
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Sensei Michelle, is a 3rd degree black belt, Laban Certified Movement Analyst, Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist and has a background in dance and theater. She began her study of martial arts with her son and husband in the fall of 1994 when she signed them all up for tae kwon do classes at a small neighborhood school. In 1997 she joined World Oyama Karate Headquarters where she trained directly under Grandmaster (Soshu) Shigeru Oyama. In 1999, after successfully competing in many semi-knockdown tournaments she was invited to join uchi-deshi morning training overseen by Soshu in preparation for knockdown tournaments. She participated in this training along with a regular class and teaching schedule for 4 years until World Oyama HQ closed its doors (2003) on Sixth Avenue.
In 2003 she became a Laban Certified Movement Analyst and applies this specialized knowledge in her training and instruction of karate and other specialized workshops.
She is a 5 time Woman's World Oyama Knockdown Champion and holds many North American Open Tournament Championship titles in kata and kumite. She won the Canadian Kyokushin Womans Knockdown Division in 2001 and the Fighting Spirit Award at the Seidokaikan "Knockdown Kings" Tournament in New York City 2002. On October 9, 2004 she fought 61 consecutive fights at the historic "A Woman's Right to Fight" event in NYC. The event was conceived and presented to showcase the diverse fighting spirits of women within full contact karate.
In 1999 she created the World Oyama Karate Children's Outreach Program and served as its' Chief Instructor with programs at PS 41 and the City and Country School until the program moved to its current home at World Kanreikai Karate in November 2004. She has also taught karate to the senior students at Dalton High School since 1999. After the closing of World Oyama Headquarters in 2004 she joined World Kanreikai Karate and formed the Regional Headquarters here in Manhattan where she continues to teach both adult and children's classes. She also teaches specialized workshops in anatomy and the martial arts and LMA/BF and the martial arts for SMAI.
In 2003 she formed The Society for Martial Arts Instruction. In this space she can pursue her passion for teaching, analyzing the martial arts, and offering workshops that explore the movement principles which underlie all movement arts i.e. Anatomy and the Martial Arts, Space and the Martial Arts , Still Moving, which she co-teaches with Amy Matthews, and the Good Guys/Bad Guys self defense workshop that she created and co-teaches with Shihan Maria Van Dessel. She practices Iaido at the Ken Zen Institute with Pam Parker Sensei,where she has obtained nidan rank and Yang Style Tai Chi with Grandmaster Yu at the Society for Martial Arts Instr. She has studied embodied anatomy with Amy Matthews, Anatomy and Kinesiology with Irene Dowd, is a frequent somanaut in her studies of inner space (cadaver dissection) with Gil Headley PHD, Embodied Anatomy with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and is pursuing certification as an Infant Development Movement Educator (IDME) from the School of Body-Mind-Centering. She is currently exploring studies in a variety of "hands on" healing practices including Tui Na and Shiatsu.
 Photo: Rondell Romiel |
Instructors 
