JP - Our Newest Black Sash

I am very happy to announce our newest member to our instructor team. JP Gionet has successfully completed extensive testing activities over the course of 2 weeks to attain the rank of Black Sash or "Instructor in Training" as it is known in our school. Although we cannot post pictures taken during the activities, we can definitely post some before and after shots as well as the award ceremony.

Praying for mercy before it begins?



Relaxing after the fighting is done.



The Award Ceremony:

Want to Move On? Demonstrate the Technique.

I thought I would share a discussion I had with an old traditional kung fu practitioner. We were discussing the attitudes we encounter here in Canada from eager students who want to progress through the ranks. This particular person spoke about the school where he trained in Asia. In traditional schools, it was not acceptable to demand progression from your instructors. It is understood that when you are ready to move on, you will move on. In the school we discussed, the students were taught at a slow pace to ensure that each technique or combination was correct before being allowed to move on. If a student every had the nerve to state that they were ready to learn more, the instructor would put them up on a stage with one of the senior students. The test was to show that you can execute the techniques you learned so far in a fighting situation. If you failed, the consequence was to start your training over from the beginning of the form. Of course it was almost impossible to be good enough to win with a short seriese of techniques so this was a very discouraging proposition. Although this may be the extreme, I do believe the basic lesson is correct. Your instructors are the judge of when you are "ready" to move ahead. It is great to have passion towards your training and natural to want to progress quickly but kung fu has no short cuts.

DVD Set Released in U.S.

The Kin Mon Sil Lum Gung Fu group in the U.S. released a DVD set. Although the school clearly states that they are not a Fut Gar school, they do trace back to Leung Tin Chiu, the founder of Fut Gar Kung Fu as taught at my school. The forms that are practiced at Kin Mon Sil Lum Gung Fu are similar in name and execution to some of the forms I teach. I have not seen the DVD's yet but think that it is great that the school went through the effort to put together a compilation of their forms. Information can be obtained on their site.

We Need a Show!!!

I think back over the years and there had always been an occassional performance of interest that I could recommend to my kung fu students. There used to be more excitement and energy around promotion of kung fu within our community. Some interesting shows from over the years have been:

• Performances by the Shaolin Monks (first few times)
• Jackie Chan fundraiser
• Masters of Kung Fu Performance
  
• Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu
• Friendship Tournament - Local students competing against monks!!!!
  
• Don't remember the name but it was a weapons demo with performances from around the world
  

It seems that we have gone a long time without something like this. There are always performances that you can attend but they are usually 1 or 2 schools doing some free performances to promote their schools. I think it is about time for one of the kung fu federations to get motivated and put on a large performance that is properly promoted in a significant venue. The community seems to be in need of something other than a few annual tournaments and a bunch of schools doing demos. We need a show!!!