2012 Martial Artistry Shaolin Kung Fu & Chinese Wushu Scrapbook
Saturday December 22, 2012 Sash Presentations
It is rare that you will find this much awesome all in one picture -- or in one room, demonstrating kung fu. But instructors, students and guests at our final 2012 martial arts sash presentation in Albuquerque were treated to just that when this huge group of students presented their wushu forms for before an enthusiastic audience. Receiving sash promotions were:
YAOTING (JULIAN) SHELNUTT: Small Praying Mantis (Xiao Tang Lang) - Red Sash
CHRISTINE DULLEA: Power Fist Form (Kung Lik Kuen) - Green Sash
JEN VOSSEN: Spring Leg Three (Tan Tui San) - Orange-Black Sash
LUX VOSSEN: Spring Leg Two (Tan Tui Er) - Orange-White Sash
EDI JUARES: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
DANI JUARES: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
NATHAN HOLDEN: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
MIA BURDEAU: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
ZARINA MUSCATO: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
KEN VIGIL: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
MICHAEL HOTCHKISS: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Student: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
CHRISTOPHER MUSCATO: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
ANN: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
AARON GASKINS: Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
MATEO: Little Dragon Five (Xiao Long Wu) - White-Purple Sash
LENNON VOSSEN: Little Dragon Four (Xiao Long Si) - White-Blue Sash
Student: Little Dragon One (Xiao Long Yi) - White-Yellow Sash
HOUSE OF FLYING SQUIRRELS Official Movie Trailer, December 8, 2012
Our martial arts Movie Stunt Class's kung fu film HOUSE OF FLYING SQUIRRELS will premier Chinese New Year's Eve, Saturday, February 9, 2013. With two months to go, the offical movie trailer was released.
Rumor has it that Belen has requested a showing of the film after the premier.
Martial Arts Sash Presentations, Saturday November 24, 2012
There were no turkeys at our November sash presentations, but plenty of promotions.
Dorothy Stender: Four Cloud Double-Head Spear (Si Yun Shuangtou Qiang) - Purple-Red Sash
Todd Coffey: Broadsword One (Dao Yi) - Blue-Black Sash
Elaine Compton: Spring Leg Three (Tan Tui San) - Orange-Black Sash
Jackson: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
Student: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
Auram Manoochehri: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Tim Voskresensky: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Student: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Student: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Scarlet Tvedt: Little Dragon Five (Xiao Long Wu) - White-Purple Sash
Kung Fu Sash Presentations, Saturday October 27, 2012
October brought us a scary good group of martial arts presentations this month at Albuquerque Martial Artistry Shaolin Kung Fu and Chinese Wushu. Promotions were as follows:
John Shelnutt: Wushu Staff (Qilin Gun) - Red-Purple Sash
Jonathan Milton: Southern Boxing (Nan Quan) - Red-White Sash
Ellie Wilson: Power Fist Form (Kung Lik Kuen) - Green Sash
Nathan Haluska: Power Fist Form (Kung Lik Kuen) - Green Sash
Eddie Carroll: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
Edi Juares: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Dani Juares: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Kim Kresovich: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
K J McIver: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Amber Padilla: Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
Caden Carroll: Little Dragon Five (Xiao Long Wu) - White-Purple Sash
Kaede Carroll: Little Dragon Three (Xiao Long San) - White-Green Sash
Congratulations, all!
Moon Festival Celebration - Saturday September 29, 2012
Martial Artistry Shaolin Kung Fu and Chinese Wushu instructors gathered for a Moon Festival celebration at Sifu's mountain retreat. The party was a huge success (well, maybe except for the part where Nailah the Basenji raided a purse for chocolate, forcing us to induce vomiting on the little rascal). We ate a great deal - including wonderful green tea moon cakes brought by Ms. Qiu - watched a video of Huangshan in the theater and enjoyed the beautiful full moon (also laser pointers).
Thanks to everyone for coming, to Nathan for bringing his awesome telescope (last time I saw a set-up that tech was an episode on Big Bang Theory!), thanks to Yan Qiu for bringing her video of Huangshan, thanks to all the good folks who grilled, cleaned up and made bad dogs vomit for their own good.
If you were able to attend, I hope you had a great time. If you couldn't make it this year, you were missed.
Saturday September 22, 2012 Sash Presentations
Our presentation group was 20 strong for September 2012. And when I say strong, I mean STRONG. Guests and martial arts instructors alike were treated to an impressive display of kung fu skill!
Promotions were awarded to:
Ben Berling: Wushu Staff (Qilin Gun) - Red-Black Sash
Chad Petty: Tiger Boxing (Hu Quan) - Purple Sash
Ed McGinnis: Shantung Shaolin (Xiao Hu Yan) - Blue Sash
Lydia Eggert: Shantung Shaolin (Xiao Hu Yan) - Blue Sash
Lee Ann Haluska: Power Fist Form (Kung Lik Kuen) - Green Sash
Caulder Carroll: Spring Leg Two (Tan Tui Er) - Orange-White Sash
Sophie: Spring Leg Two (Tan Tui Er) - Orange-White Sash
Alex Armijo: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Zarina Muscato: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Nathan Holden: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Auram Manoochehri: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Kent Vigil: Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Michael Muscato: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Dani Juares: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Edi Juares: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Michael Hotchkiss: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
B.G.: Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
Chris Muscato: Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
M. Saville: Little Dragon Five (Xiao Long Wu) - White-Purple Sash
Tas Palcza: Little Dragon Three (Xiao Long San) - White-Green Sash
Congratulations to all!
Saturday August 25, 2012 Sash Presentations
What a great group of martial artists we had for this presentation! The kung fu was strong in this bunch, and new ranks abounded.
Kuan Ma: Tiger Boxing (Nian Qing Hu Quan) - Purple Sash
Jesse Stephens: Little Open Gate (Xiao Kai Men) - Green-White Sash
Emily: Little Open Gate (Xiao Kai Men) - Green-White Sash
Jason Oglesbay: Spring Leg Three (Tan Tui San) - Orange-Black Sash
Jen Vossen: Spring Leg Two (Tan Tui Er) - Orange-White Sash
Elaine Compton: Spring Leg Two (Tan Tui Er) - Orange-White Sash
Lux Vossen: Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
Nathan Holden: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Auram Manoochehri: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
K.K.: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Kent Vigil: Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Edi Juares Montoya: Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
Dani Juares: Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
Michael Hotchkiss: Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
Congratulations, everyone!
Martial Artistry's first MOVIE STUNT CLASS concludes...
(Saturdays 11:00-11:30am, May, June, July)
... but the filming goes on!
Martial Artistry's Movie Stunt Class was a three month program (May, June, July), with a 30 minute class once a week. MSC covered:
- character development - Learn how to develop an interesting character the audience will remember
- mechanics of stunt fighting - how to safely give and take convincing movie strikes
- filming techniques - camera angles and other tricks
- storytelling through fight choreography - how to hook your audience
The completed film will premiere during our next Chinese New Year Celebration.
Saturday July 28, 2012 Sash Presentations
Summertime is vacation time, and so not all of those who presented for new sashes were able to make the main presentation day, and that's why not all of our candidates are pictured here. Our sash promotions for the month of July, 2012 were:
Natasha McGinnis - Crane Fan (He Shan) - Green-Black Sash
April Dawn Duncan - Power Fist Form (Kung Lik Kuen) - Green Sash
Jackson - Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Alex Armijo - Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Ann - Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
Auram Manoochehri - Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
KV - Little Fist (Xiao Quan) - Yellow Sash
Congratulations to all our students who presented for new sashes in July!
June 23, 2012 Sash Presentations
A small but awesome group for June martial arts sash presentations.
Joseph Butner - Green-Black Sash - Crane Fan (He Shan)
Jason Oglesbay - Orange-White Sash - Tan Tui Er
Zarina Muscato - Yellow-White Sash - Xiao Tan Tui Yi
Nathan Holden - Yellow Sash - Little Fist (Xiao Quan)
Mateo - White-Blue Sash - Little Dragon Four (Xiao Long Si)
Aaliyah Ybarra - White-Green Sash - Little Dragon Three (Xiao Long San)
Congratulations, everyone!
June 16, 2012 - More Kung Fu Flick Shenanigans
We filmed three scenes in a bit over an hour. It could be we're getting the hang of this martial arts movie business. Students completed:
Scene 2: Delicious beverages abound in "The Joy of Tea", in which Neato and Queen Rilo'a consult Ooo Long, the tribal tea-leaf mystic.
Scene 3: The Grand Ninja and M confer on the progress of the Evil One's plot to rule the world during "Pilfered Squirrel Pearls", in which Xiao-Xiao is also very naughty. Ooops!
Scene 4: "Fellowship of the Ping". Super-spy 00Squirrel looks on as Ooo Long reveals the prophecy foretold by the tea leaves.
I spy with my little eye a little squirrely spy!
Our Players:
Elaine Compton: Xiao-Xiao
April Dawn Duncan: Neato
Lee Ann Haluska: Ooo Long
Dame Squirrely Dench: M
Squirrel Connery: Agent 00Squirrel
Jesse Stephens: Billy Joe Jimmy Bob Buckett
Cindy Villescaes: The Grand Ninja
Ellie Wilson: Queen Rilo'a
Camera: Randy Lantz
Squirrel Wrangler: Ryan McGowan
June 9, 2012 - Martial Arts Movie Stunt Class Filming
We filmed Scene 6, "Bye-Bye Bambi", as well as vignettes for Rilo'a (Ellie Wilson), Neato (April Dawn Duncan), Grumpy Asian (Kuan Ma) and Cyborg Samurai (Jackson). Xiao-Xiao (Elaine Compton) and her trademark kleptomania featured in every clip. Randy Lantz provided his usual mad camera skilz.
Kuan's yelling was positively terrifying - not to mention hilarious! The original and outside-the-box characters created by the students of the martial arts movie stunt class for this film have been positively inspiring and so much fun!
June 2, 2012
It was our first day of "serious" filming for the Movie Stunt Class and we not only got some great footage (especially considering that we're still in the earliest stages of the program) but, we also took our first stab at post-production work for our 2012 Martial Artistry class movie, House of Flying Squirrels.
The first attempt involved a blooper clip from "Scene 3". Dame Squirrely Dench (as "M") loses her professional cool when Cindy Villescas (as the Grand Ninja) blows her pronunciation of another characters name.
Post-production on this clip made us realize that, along with a chroma-key blue sceen, we may also want to invest in a chroma-key green screen and employ some more aggressive lighting techniques. No one thought that Cindy's costume, a bright teal, would cause any issues against the deep blue of the chroma-key blue screen, but, it did. We're going to reshoot that scene.
The second post-production attempt was on "Scene 1". It went much better, although we see lots of room for improvement there, as well. We had draping, gapping and shadow issues with the blue screens in this scene, and for this week's foray into filming fun, we've improved our hanging method (a giant 20' long pipe supplied by Brian Baker) and we'll see if lights applied to either side help dispell the remaining shadows. Still, Scene 1 was definitely a keeper. Here's a clip:
OUR WUSHU CREW:
Rilo'a - Ellie Wilson
Neeto - April Dawn Duncan
Ninja 1 - Cindy Villescas
Ninja 2 - Lee Ann Haluska
Cameras: Randy Lantz, Ed McGinnis
May 26, 2012 - Sash Presentations
A holiday weekend and yet another large kung fu sash presentation group on Saturday, May 26, 2012. A number of our students had to test privately due to the holiday, so sadly, we don't have everyone's photo, but the instructors and audiences were treated to some really spectacular wushu forms. Especially exciting were the Little Dragons presentations. Our youngest members really rocked their new martial arts taolu!
Oh, and who could forget The Revenge of the Wu Shoe, where Norman finally takes a stand and says, "Don't Tread on Me!"?
Our presenters who received new wushu sash promotions for May were:
B W - Chang Chuan (Long Fist) - Purple-Black Sash
Gale Borkenhagen - Northern Shaolin - Green-White Sash
Jesse Stephens - Northern Shaolin - Green Sash
Pierre Broussard - Spring Leg Three (Tan Tui San) - Orange-Black Sash
Sophie - Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
Jen Vossen - Spring Leg One (Tan Tui Yi) - Orange Sash
Elaine Compton - Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Mia Burdeau - Little Spring Leg Two (Xiao Tan Tui Er) - Yellow-Black Sash
Tim - Little Spring Leg One (Xiao Tan Tui Yi) - Yellow-White Sash
Kim Kresovich - Xiao Quan (Little Fist) - Yellow Sash
Michael Muscato - Xiao Quan (Little Fist) - Yellow Sash
Isaac Doyle - Xiao Quan (Little Fist) - Yellow Sash
Scarlet Tvedt - Xiao Long Si (Little Dragon Four) - White-Blue Sash
Lennon Vossen - Xiao Long San (Little Dragon Three) - White-Green Sash
Bobby Smith - Xiao Long San (Little Dragon Three) - White-Green Sash
Tas Palcza - Xiao Long Er (Little Dragon Two) - White-Orange Sash
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
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
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
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.
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.
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?