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Tuesday July 16, 2002 "The best show we've ever had here!" raved Regina Ravis, representative for Emerson Elementary. Despite the mid-day, weekday venue that -- especially with our already fully booked July weekend schedule -- meant we could muster but a fraction of our usual team, we did put on an enjoyable exhibition of kung fu and wushu. We were too few, alas, to bring our 75 foot dragon (which requires a minimum of 10 big people to animate), but we did bring Li, our Southern Chinese Lion, and perform 3 lion dancing sets, as well as lots of awesome kung fu. From left to right (below) are Nicole Neff, Toby Baca III, Monique Cordova, Alex Daniels, Chris Baca and Danielle Stender. Not shown are lion dancers Diana Ma and Michael Panto, drummer Kyra Gryphon, announcer Kuan Ma, sound goddess Dorothy Stender and coach Kayne Sirocco LaTrans. |
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| The incredibly flexible Alex Daniels demonstrates a back walkover -- not really a wushu movement, but a great way to demonstrate flexibility and boldness. |
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Lion Dancer Michael Panto steps in to fill some of the gaps in our line drills with a front handspring. | |
| National Champion and Assistant Instructor Chris Baca leaps over Gold Medalist, Instructor's Aide and Lion Dance Team Leader Diana Ma's attack. Chris is using the three tip lance, or San Jian Duan, and Diana wields the pudao in this fighting set. |
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Here is Ms. Ma in another guise, as our lion, Li. Lion dancing is an essential for the pride of a kung fu school, as the strength and skill of the lion dancers reflect the strength and skill of the students. Indeed, Li's name means "strength" -- he's the "youngest" of our three Southern Chinese lions, and currently is the main lion in all three of our lion dances. | |
| Reserve National Champion Monique Cordova thrills the audience with her cartwheel into splits. The cartwheel is a deceptive wushu technique, used for kicking an opponent who is pursuing from behind. |
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Nicole Neff in a nanquan, or Southern Fist, posture. | |
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Alex Daniels and Junior Instructor's Aide
Danielle Stender conclude He Shan, or Crane Fan, a kung fu weapons
form, with a aerial opening of the fan. This difficult fan technique
involves tossing a closed fan in such a way that it does a full 360, opening
in the air as it turns and falls, still open, into the wushu player's hand. It's very pretty, but the wushu players really dread those outdoor exhibitions on windy days! |
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Flexibility and balance are very important to the kung fu practitioner. Alex Daniels and Reserve National Champion Monique Cordova demonstrate both with a no handed backbend. | |
| National Champion Chris Baca leaps and spins, chopping through an imaginary battlefield, as he wields the three tip lance. |
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Because the day and time of the venue made it
difficult for many of our team members to attend (dang jobs!), everybody
took on extra parts. Here Lion Dance Team Leader Diana Ma shows that
her strength and skill do indeed extend beyond lion dancing and into kung
fu, as this awesome butterfly kick proves. Hey, nice pants Ms. Ma! Maybe the whole team should wear them... |
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| Here's Ms. Ma in her other guise, as Li's head. That's Michael Panto in the rear, and Chris Baca playing the "Naughty Monk", who prepares to leap over Li as he is preoccupied with an itch. |
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Assistant Instructor Monique Cordova concludes a modern wushu skyward kick with sole with a fall into full splits. This advanced ditang quan technique really sends the crowd wild. | |
| Nicole Neff displays the composure and and concentration of the marital artist as she strikes with her elbow in the modern wushu changquan routine, Guan Yin Quan, |
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Li, our yellow lion, looks to the audience for encouragement as he encounters the "naughty monk" in the Drunken Lion Dance, always a crowd favorite. | |
| Alex Daniels and Junior Instructor's Aide Danielle Stender (foreground) display admirable depth of stance in the traditional kung fu set, Kung Lik Kuen, or Power Fist Form. |
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Assistant Instructor and National Champion Chris Baca does plum blossom spins with the shuang kandao, or double executioner's knives. This movement is from a Northern Shaolin set Mr. Baca learned this year from the monks of the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, China. | |
| Uh oh! Looks like Li has spotted something . . . |
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Reserve National Champion Monique Cordova exhibits her skill with the difficult feng huo lun, or wind and fire wheels. | |
| Nicole Neff displays the scale, or sideways balance, in a modern wushu changquan, or Long Fist, routine. |
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Alex Daniels descends into splits from a skyward kick with sole. | |
| Kung fu requires great balance, and Chris Baca shows just that as he walks on his hands, then pirouettes, then continues to walk across the floor on his hands -- backward! |
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Reserve National Champion Monique Cordova thrusts into an opening in her imaginary opponent's defense in Si Yun Shuangtou Qiang, or Four Cloud Double-head Spear, a modern wushu weapon routine. |
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Alex Daniels side kicks with double cutting
palms. What this photo can't show you is that she is levitating that
awesomely high side kick -- which means that she is holding that leg aloft,
frozen, for a count of three seconds. As always, our team had a great time performing. Click here to see our latest performance schedule.
Questions? Comments?
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