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Friday august 23, 2002 The Albuquerque Bio Park is always a great place to do a show -- lots of open space and a warm, welcoming, HUGE crowd. Maybe even TOO huge! So huge, in fact, that the announcer couldn't see, and we had to put Sifu on a chair so she could see, and try to relay what was happening on the stage to the announcer. Actually, most of the time, Sifu couldn't see either. She'd just glimpse the top of a head, and make a guess from there. There were enough snafus that our show, timed out at 25 minutes, ran a full 30! Oops! Below is a shot to give you an idea of the crowd gathered. This was on just one side: stage right. The crowd extended all the way around past stage left, and we even had an audience that settled for backstage, so you can imagine how thick they were packed to the front. Yikes! |
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| Grass is always rather tricky, but the kung fu exhibition team just loves to play on the turf. At right, Alex Daniels aerial cartwheels. |
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And so does Albert Vera. This may have been his first aerial cartwheel at an official wushu exhibition, and just look at him soar! | ||||
| Here's Chris Baca's take on the trick. |
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National Champion Chris Baca and Ann Marie Palmieri perform with three tip lances. This was Chris's first time out with that monstrously huge, new lance. Its way tall, and he's not, so it made for some interesting moments. This was also Ann Marie's debut in the lance set. | ||||
| Chris Baca takes a wicked swipe with the snake spear, but Lion Dance Team Leader Diana Ma evades and prepares for a counter with her pudao. |
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Here's Ms. Ma, more in her element as
she and Kip Barkhurst play Li, our yellow lion, and James Esparza and
Michael Panto play Fu, our flower-faced lion. This was poor Fu's last
performance before his fateful accident during a practice for a very
advanced stack. He's been completely dismantled, and is now a rather
spooky-looking shell of shattered bamboo. But, don't worry! Martial Artistry's most venerable lion will be back! And just wait until you see what we have planned for Fu's complete reconstruction! |
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(left) Li's got an
itch! Darned lion fleas! (right) Did you ever get that feeling like you were being . . . watched? |
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Jonah Donnarumma (left)
plays the ever-popular monkey staff -- a favorite with audiences and
kung fu stylists alike. (right) James Cole gets sky-high in the back tuck. |
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(right)
Johnathan and Jason Padilla show good air and spread in the butterfly kick
-- a wushu technique.
(below) Kristine Dang and Alex Daniels perform skyward kick with sole. We're working on getting these youngsters to put their foot beside their head as opposed to way above it, but for a pair of beginners they do pretty well, I'm sure you agree! |
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James Cole leans back, kicks and thrusts with the jian, or straight sword -- a beautiful and deceptive wushu move. | ||||
| Li concentrates very hard. How will he ever get that darned lettuce? |
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Ah ha! He has an idea! | ||||
| National Champion Lan Nguyen and Co-Leader of the Steel Phoenix Exhibition Team, Jason Padilla, play a modern wushu double dagger set. |
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(left) Lillie
Vosa makes sure her opponent is truly down for the count in the kung fu
warfan routine. (right) Reserve National Champion Monique Cordova plays a wushu double dagger routine. |
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Just like old times! Nadia Abeyta gets chosen as a "volunteer" from the audience to try the contortionist tricks. Too bad we can't capture the arm thingee on film. Creepy and impressive, but you have to see it in action. |
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State Champion Nancy Nguyen displays composure and intense martial purpose in jian or straight sword (left), and look at moon balance (right). |
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| Ann Marie Palmieri, Danielle Stender, Nicole Neff and Erich Vera push palm in cat as they block with the fan in He Shan, or Crane Fan, a kung fu warfan set. |
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Steel Phoenix Kung Fu and Wushu Exhibition Team Leader Amir Shirkhorshidian and Instructor's Aide James Cole come out of an evasive roll to strike with tiger claws in a wushu tiger routine. Animal styles are part of the regular kung fu and wushu curriculum at Martial Artistry. | ||||
| The straight sword, or jian is one of our most popular weapons. Below, State Champion Nancy Nguyen and Instructor's Aides Amir Shirkhorshidian and James Cole thrust with sword in bow stance. | |||||
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(left) Ann Marie Palmieri
performs back walk-over.
(right) National Champion Chris Baca and Ann Marie Palmieri in perfect sync with three tip lances. And this was only Ann Marie's first kung fu exhibition with this set! |
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| Fu and Li look at each other in the Double Lion Welcome, during which we explain the legend of the lion and the nian. |
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(left) That's either
James Cole or Chris Baca in a back handspring. Can anyone identify
those briefs? (right) Alex Daniels is disgusting, with the assistance of Michael Panto, in the contortionist routine. |
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National Champion Chris Baca plays the Shaolin Shuangdao, a kung fu set he learned while on a training trip with Sifu to China. | ||||
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(left) Johnathan
Padilla snags some serious airtime in the jump front kick. (right) State Champion Nancy Nguyen and Team Leader Amir Shirkhorshidian crouch with straight sword. |
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| Erich Vera, Kristine Dang and Lillie Vosa block high and low in horse riding step in the classical kung fu form, Kung Lik Kuen. |
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Southern Chinese Lions, Li and Fu, circle one another, Li staying lower than Fu to show respect for the elder lion in the Double Lion Welcome dance. | ||||
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Li stalks the unwary monk in the opening of the Choy Ching. |
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The monk displays the lucky scroll, as Li seems immensely pleased with himself. | ||||
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(left) Amir
Shirkhorshidian wows the audience with his mantis routine. (right) James Cole and Reserve National Champion Monique Cordova salute with double head spear. |
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| The crowd was so mesmerized by Mushu, they started following our dragon as he snaked through the audience! He looked like a big pied piper! | |||||
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| This part of the show is always a hoot, and Albert Vera is such a good sport about playing along. Note the sultry postures of our kung fu players. They enter the stage, sashaying with hips a-sway and fans and eyelashes batting. It's a fun contrast to the sudden martial salute in, when our beginners become all business and the fan is revealed to be a deceptive and powerful weapon! |
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| It's a zoo -- so why am I so surprised to see a lion? | |||||
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Martial Artistry's Team Steel Phoenix
had a blast at this event -- many thanks to all our Zoo friends for making
this possible! Look for us at the Rio Grande Zoo again next year, at
their Saturday Night Wild! Questions? Comments?
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