Roy Dean, left, practices Brazilian Jujitsu grappling techniques with student Rick Ellis in his Bend school last week.

Roy Dean grabs Rick Ellis and flips him over his shoulder like a scene from a Steven Seagal movie.

Later, while on the mat beneath Ellis, Dean swivels his body and uses his hips and legs to choke Ellis until he ”taps out.”

The ”fight” is staged and performed slowly, so onlookers can follow the movements. But watching the two grappling men, the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is hard to ignore.

The discipline is related to other martial arts, but Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu focuses on ground techniques and how to gain an advantage once on the floor.

”It’s a body-movement art,” says Dean, who moved to Central Oregon recently to open a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy in Bend. ”It’s a way of moving your body on the ground that enables you to be very fluid and eventually dominate your opponent or stop your attacker.

”You learn to use your legs just like your hands and arms. If you’re in a disadvantaged position, you can use your entire body against one of your opponent’s body parts.”

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu has increased in popularity along with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), an international mixed martial arts association whose fighting events include jiu-jitsu, judo, karate, boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and other disciplines.

”Many people are attracted (to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) because it’s such a large component of ultimate fighting,” Dean says. ”UFC’s first champion did this art specifically. It’s a requirement and a fundamental discipline for ultimate fighting.”

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a descendant of judo, a Japanese martial art that centers on throws from a standing position. The sport of jiu-jitsu was brought to Brazil in the early 1900s by a judoka (judo expert) and then evolved through the Gracie family of Brazil.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu was not actually introduced to the American public until the early 1990s, when ultimate fighting first came onto the martial-arts scene, according to Dean. A small Brazilian fighter named Royce (pronounced Hoyce) Gracie used jiu-jitsu to defeat opponents who were sometimes 100 pounds heavier than him.

”It was eye-opening to the world of martial arts,” Ellis says.

The slim, fit Dean – who holds black belts in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, aikido, judo, and other martial arts – says he was inspired by Gracie.

”On the ground, size and weight are significantly less factors,” Dean explains. ”It’s empowering, and there’s a confidence it gives you, where if you’re ever in a situation, you know you’ve been through tougher situations in class. Mental clarity under duress is a great gift.”

Dean, 31, who moved to Bend from San Diego this fall, has been training in martial arts since he was 16 – and under some of the best trainers in the world, he says. He grew up in Anchorage, Alaska, watching the Karate Kid and Seagal movies, which piqued his interest in aikido and other martial arts.

Dean studied in Japan, where he trained in judo and eventually earned a black belt in the discipline.

At the age of 21, he moved to Monterey, Calif., where he lived in a dojo for more than a year, training every day under an aikido master. Soon thereafter, he earned a black belt in aikido.

Becoming an expert in jiu-jitsu is an arduous task, and it took 9> years for Dean to earn a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He trained under one of the first American black belts in the art, Roy Harris, and he finally received the belt in September of this year.

About a week later, Dean moved to Bend. A former student living in Bend told Dean about the area, and the instructor saw a good opportunity to open a new academy.

Dean conducts his classes four nights per week. They are open to men and women of all ages, and Dean says that women are often interested in learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for self-defense. He says most of his clients want only to learn the discipline and are not seeking to compete in mixed martial arts competitions such as ultimate fighting.

”Anybody can learn it (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu),” Dean insists. ”I’m trying to create a family environment. There’s a competitive aspect, but not too competitive. I want to make it very female friendly, because if a woman were to be attacked, that (on the ground) is the most likely position she would end up in.”

But in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, one can gain an advantage from being on his or her back. Dean says his two favorite moves in the discipline are the ”armlock” and the ”triangle.”

Dean demonstrates the armlock while on his back with Ellis’ hands around his neck, as if Ellis were choking him. Dean positions his body perpendicular to Ellis’ and throws his right leg over his partner’s neck, showing how he could use the strength of his hips to hyperextend Ellis’ arm.

From there, Dean performs the triangle, a powerful technique that he says requires no upper-body strength. He swivels his hips and places both his legs around Ellis’ neck, forming a triangle with his legs by locking his left foot behind his right knee.

Dean says this position would cause Ellis to choke himself on his own arm.

”Within seconds he’d be asleep,” Dean says. ”The body is a powerful weapon when integrated, but we use our hands for everything. Raising your hips off the ground is the basis for all submission holds. The hips are the power center for the body.”

Aside from ultimate fighting events, tournaments are staged in which Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is the only martial art performed. The competitions are judged on a complex point system with the goal of submitting your opponent, Dean explains.

But Dean says he is finished with the competitive aspects of martial arts.

”I have no interest in competition anymore,” he says. ”My 20s were about competition. My 30s are about longevity and teaching. Passing of knowledge is important as a martial artist.”

Roy Dean academy

What: Classes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a martial art that centers on how to gain an advantage on the ground.

Where: 1620 NE Third Street in Bend, in the Sortor Bushido Kai Karate studio.

When: Monday through Thursday at 8:15 p.m., and Tuesdays and Thursdays at 12:15 p.m. Classes last about 1> hours.

Contact: Roy Dean at 788-7357 or log on to www.roydeanacademy.com