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2012 Martial Artistry Shaolin Kung Fu & Chinese Wushu Scrapbook

May 12, 2012 Let the Cinemayhem Begin!

Our first attempt at filming with blue screen was very fun and educational. While we didn't get any usable footage (huge dragons crowding the blue wall, fans whirring and people chatting in the background = bad), we at least learned that cheesy blue screen effects are infinitely doable. Much happiness ensued!

While we're waiting for our two "real" chroma-key backdrops and our new video camera to arrive before we start more filming on our kung fu flick, the students in our Movie Stunt Class are learning all the moves and stunts for their upcoming martial arts movie fight scenes. Fun, fun, fun!

May 2, 2012 New Website Reaches 20,000 views!

Our new website, which only went live six months ago on December 2, 2011 -- has already passed the 20,000 views mark! WEWT!

April 28, 2012 Sash Presentations

Congratulations to all those who presented kung fu or weapons forms for sash promotions for the month of April, 2012!

Brian Baker - Pudao - Brown-Red Sash

Sherry Riddle - Double Head Spear (Shuangtou Qiang) - Purple-Black Sash

Eliza Tvedt - Spring Leg Three (Tan Tui San) - Orange-Black Sash

Nathan Haluska - Spring Leg Three (Tan Tui San) - Orange-Black Sash

Jason Oglesbay - Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash

Eddie Carroll - Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash

Jackson - Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash

Elaine Compton - Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash

Zarina Muscato - Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash

April 23, 2012 Facebook Likes Milestone: 200!

We're thrilled that the Martial Artistry Shaolin Kung Fu & Chinese Wushu Facebook Place page has already reached 200 likes!

It's amazing to see how martial arts enthusiasts from as far away as India, Africa, China, Japan, the Philippines, all over the US and all over the world were able to find us on Facebook to share their videos, photos and stories.

April 4, 2012 NEW Movie Stunt Class Announced

Martial Artistry's new three month (May, June, July) movie stunt class will teach students all the skills needed to film their very own kung fu chop-socky movie. This class will cover character development, story-telling via fight choreography and filming techniques as well as (of course) martial arts stunts.

Those who signed up for the course within the first two weeks of the announcements were able to vote on the day/time they would like the class to be offered, and the winner was Saturdays at 11:00am. The finished product will be a movie, set to premiere during our next Chinese New Year Celebration.

March 24, 2012 Sash Presentations

This was an especially exciting sash presentation, with Ms. Qiu testing out of the red sash group -- on her 50th birthday, no less! Did she... whoosh? You had better believe it! Consider that cartwheel with staff conquered. Dorothy Stender rocked the double daggers, and the proficiency of all our underbelts promises even more great things to come.

Qiu Yan – Staff (Gun Shu) – promotion to Red-Black Sash

Dorothy Stender – Double Daggers (Shuang Bishou) – promotion to Purple-White Sash

Liz Shiels – Kung Lik Kuen (Power Fist Form) – promotion to Green Sash

Lee Ann Haluska – Tan Tui San (Spring Leg Three) – promotion to Orange-Black Sash

Ellie Wilson – Tan Tui San (Spring Leg Three) – promotion to Orange-Black Sash

Rachel Milton – Tan Tui Er (Spring Leg Two) – promotion to Orange-Black Sash

Lux Vossen – Xiao Tan Tui Er (Little Spring Leg Two) – promotion to Yellow-Black Sash

Elaine Compton – Xiao Quan (Little Fist) – promotion to Yellow Sash

Miles Madden – Xiao Quan (Little Fist) – promotion to Yellow Sash

Afterward, we had cake and champagne (for those over 21) to celebrate the birthdays of three of our instructors: Qiu Yan, Ryan McGowan and Lydia Eggert. Much silliness ensued, including a rousing game of Werewolf, a guessing game which involved cards, subterfuge and Sifu dying many, many, many times!

February 2012

2-27-2012 New Little Dragons Program

Little Dragon Kaede rocks the kung fu horsetail whisk.

Martial Artistry Shaolin Kung Fu & Chinese Wushu in Albuquerque rolled out the new Little Dragons martial arts program for our March wushu classes, and already it is a big hit with parents, students and instructors alike. Now structured more like our regular kung fu program for older students, the youngsters receive constant one on one attention for each technique or form on which they are working. There are also now unique forms for each sash rank in Little Dragons. The new forms are composed of techniques required for that particular level. These combinations of moves are used to teach our youngest students how the various techniques flow together, and better prepare them for the challenges of an eventual segue into the older kids classes. Not to mention the addition of forms gives our Little Dragons something really cool to demonstrate before their instructors, friends and family at Sash Presentations.

2-25-2012 Sash Presentations

We had a huge testing crowd for February, but thanks to the excellence of our kung fu sash candidates, presentations ran smooth as silk.

Ryan McGowan – Pudao – promotion to Brown-Red Sash

Randy Lantz – Changquan (Long Fist) – promotion to Blue-Red Sash

Todd Coffey – Changquan (Long Fist) – promotion to Blue-Red Sash

Joel McIntosh – Xiao Hu Yan (Little Tiger Swallow) – promotion to Blue Sash

Pierre Broussard – Tan Tui Er (Spring Leg Two) – promotion to Orange-White Sash

Nathan Haluska – Tan Tui Er (Spring Leg Two) – promotion to Orange-White Sash

Caulder Carroll – Tan Tui Yi (Spring Leg One) – promotion to Orange Sash

Jen Vossen – Xiao Tan Tui Er (Little Spring Leg Two) – promotion to Yellow-Black Sash

Student – Xiao Tan Tui Er (Little Spring Leg Two) – promotion to Yellow-Black Sash

Eddie Carroll – Xiao Tan Tui Yi (Little Spring Leg One) – promotion to Yellow-White Sash

Mia Burdeau – Xiao Tan Tui Yi (Little Spring Leg One) – promotion to Yellow-White Sash

Jade Xiaotong – Xiao Quan (Little Fist) – promotion to Yellow Sash

Jackson – Xiao Quan (Little Fist) – promotion to Yellow Sash

Caden – Little Dragon – promotion to White-Blue

M. Saville – Little Dragon – promotion to White-Blue

Zhu he nimen to all our newly promoted wushu students! 

2-8-2012 Martial Artistry Facebook Place Page reaches 100 "LIKES".

Ahmed Mahmoud propelled us into a new milestone by being our 100th "LIKE". Yay!

Won't you "LIKE" us too? Come join us at Martial Artistry Facebook Page. Share your martial arts photos, videos, training tips, memories or just stop in to say "Hi!".

If you're a student at our school, the Facebook page is a great place to get the latest updates about special events, school closings for holidays or inclement weather, or just to hang out and shoot the breeze with Martial Artistry members past, present and wannabe.

January 2012

1-28-2012 Sash Presentations

January Sash Promotions! Congratulations, all!

JANUARY SASH PROMOTIONS

We started off the new year right with some outstanding kung fu sash presentations! Congratulations and promotions go out to:

Jonathan Milton – Praying Mantis Boxing (Tang Lang Quan) – promotion to Red Sash

Cindy Villescas – Spring Leg Three (Tan Tui San) - promotion to Orange-Black Sash

Brooke B. – Spring Leg Three (Tan Tui San) - promotion to Orange-Black Sash

Ellie Wilson - Spring Leg Two (Tan Tui Er) - promotion to Orange-White Sash

Lee Ann Haluska - Spring Leg Two (Tan Tui Er) - promotion to Orange-White Sash

Eliza Tvedt - Spring Leg Two (Tan Tui Er) - promotion to Orange-White Sash

Jason Oglesbay - Xiao Tan Tui Er (Little Spring Leg Two) - promotion to Yellow-Black Sash

Jackson - Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - promotion to White-Red Sash

Mateo – promotion to White-Green Sash

Lennon Vossen – promotion to White-Orange Sash

Aaliyah Ybarra – promotion to White-Orange Sash

1-21-2012 Martial Artistry's 11th Annual Chinese New Year Celebration

The diehards that stayed until after the movie.Year 4709 (or 4710, depending on how one does one's calculations) of the Chinese Calendar. This is the Year of the Water Dragon, said to be a year of transformations. I think we all will remember it most for being the year we bid farewell to a very dear student, James "Sparky" Esparza, who is moving with his family to Seattle. When Sparky first stepped through the Martial Artistry door, he was very frank in stating that he would only be studying with us for a short time, because as soon as he could -- within a year or two -- he would be returning to Washington state. I think all our MA family will agree that we were fortunate to instead have him around for nearly a decade.

Our happy Kung Fu Family celebrates the coming Year of the Water Dragon. (photo by Eddie Carroll)Tons of people arrived early to help set up for the feasting and fun, so the event ran almost without a hitch. While we had way more tables and chairs than the sign-up indicated we would need, and Mr. Placza contributed another 28 chairs, we STILL had overflow into the bleachers! It was wonderful to see so many old alumni though: Ginny, Julie, Katey, Michael, Nolan, Monique among them.

So much food... even SPARKY couldn't eat it all! Not that he didn't try... (photo by Chad Petty)If the feast was any indication, this will truly be a year of plenty. The tables groaned with food as students, families and friends entered the door and found places to sit.

We started off first with an exhibition from Martial Artistry's Team Steel Phoenix. From wushu basics to kung fu weaponry, lion dancing, dragon dancing and even flag dancing, Steel Phoenix showed what the Chinese martial arts are all about. Our team members for this show were:

Ben Berling: broadsword (saber or dao), drums, whip chain (jie bian), flag dance, double whip chain (shuang jie bian), ground tumbling boxing (ditang quan), dragon dance, bullwhip (sheng bian) and cymbals.

James "Sparky" Esparza: drunken boxing (zui quan), flag dance, three section staff (san jie gun), lion dance (monk), dragon dance.

Todd Coffey: long fist (chang quan), lion dance (Cao-Cao-tail), dragon dance.

Brian Baker: rope dart (sen biao), lion dance (gong), flag dance, pudao, dragon dance.

April Duncan: spring leg (tan tui), lion dance (Cao-Cao-head), dragon dance.

Yan Qiu: war fan (wu shan), broadsword (saber, dao), flag dance, dragon dance, double fan (shuang shan)

Yaoting Shelnutt: lion dance (Haoqi-tail), double-head spear (shuangtou qiang), flag dance, dragon dance

Danielle Stender: lion dance (Kai-head), flag dance, pudao, double-head spear (shuangtou qiang), dragon dance

Ryan McGowan: lion dance (drum, cymbals), staff (gun), straight sword (jian), flag dance, Southern boxing (nanquan), praying mantis boxing (tang lang quan), dragon dance

Father Barney Deane: lion dance (Kai-tail), war fan (wu shan), dragon dance

Emily: power fist form (kung lik kuen), lion dance (Haoqi-head), dragon dance

Sylvia: little fist (xiao quan)

Dorothy Stender: tiger boxing (hu quan), sound goddess

It was a great performance and everyone worked up an appetite just watching it. So we ate. And ate. And ate. And then we watched a movie retrospective of Sparky's decade with Martial Artistry, including lots of footage from his movie-making ventures, starring tons of our students.

The credits from those old films read like a who's who of Martial Artistry back in the day. James "Sparky" Esparza, Amir Shirkhorshidian, Diana Ma, Chris Blake, Brian Baker, Jason Padilla, Danielle Hayden, Monique Renee Cordova, Johnathan Padilla, Tien Nguyen, Dominique Dexter, James Cole, Max MacLennon, Eric Lunsford, Ben Berling, Alex MacLennon, Sam Berling, Bryan Forrester, Adam Berling, Sean Ballou, Robert Vera, Kris Klarer, Alex Daniels, Rhea Ienni, Zach Kinsman, Cory Sterling, Brandon Bigsby, Nhu Nguyen, and a host of others.

The films are also chock-full of MAisms. If you've ever wondered where "I can defeat you with ONE FINGER!" or "R-U-O-K?" came from, or were puzzled by why we have at least 5 different plungers floating around the school, well, watch the above and you'll have your answer. 

As an appropo parting gift, Sparky organized a fund to donate a projector to the school, so that we could display his pretty face or worship at the altar of his movie-making genius any time we wish. He was actually going to sneak off to Seattle and blow the resulting funds on a bladder-exploding Starbuck's binge, but, Brian Baker kept him honest. So now you all have to look at Sparky's pretty face and/or worship at the altar of his movie-making genius instead. Thanks a lot, Baker...

Seriously, though, the generosity of our Martial Artistry students never fails to humble and amaze me. What shall we do with our new projector? Have an "on deck" station just before one-on-one, where students can watch a video of an exceptional example of the form they are currently learning? Start a stunt class, where students learn how to do movie fight scenes and make a short video to be shown at that year's CNY celebration? Show cartoons so Ben Berling can slack off even more than usual? What are your ideas?