Wushu, for the most part, travels below the radar; with the advent of more modern movies like…read more"Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" or "Hero" or "Ip Man," it has nudged itself into the spotlight in modern American culture in a manner which Sifu would call "tai ji style," that is to say, slowly, inexorably, and surely.
How not? It has a wealth of appealing qualities. It is dynamic, acrobatic, beautiful, fluid. Building strength, basic conditioning, stabilizer muscles, and flexibility, as well as teaching coordination, muscle memory, concentration, and the manifestation of power, it is an economy of and ornate vocabulary of gesture all at once.
Most people, in my opinion, who study this art are seekers. They dedicate themselves to it in pursuit not only of its finer qualities as described above, but also because they are interested in the point of contact between health, strength, aesthetic, and wisdom; all in the richness and fullness of the human experience. That sort of self-scrutiny, that sort of questioning, in the vein of Platonic ideals, leads us to ask, "what it is to be a human? What are we humans capable of?" As it turns out, something that we consider regular, everyday, and ordinary -- namely ourselves -- is capable of some pretty amazing things.
It's also exhilarating fun.
Wushu is an art that it both solitary and social all at once. Solitary because personal motivation is required, and social because it's a joy to train with like-minded individuals. Which finally brings me to Sifu.
Wushu is something you cannot learn from books, youtube videos, or hearsay and conjecture. It is a fusion of art and science and the subject of much research. Every art needs a master artist, and I'm privileged to write that Sifu Chen Ying is just such a person.
Sifu Chen Ying has complete understanding and fluency of the art of Wushu, from its traditional roots in philosophy, to its fighting applications, to modern performative skills, to the most difficult and arduous of techniques. Trained in more styles than i can count, in traditional Gong Fu and modern Wushu, he has a wealth of information at the ready to guide a student in the art. Bagua? Sure. Drunken? No problem? Tai ji? You betcha. Weapons? Twice a week.
In short, his knowledge, memory, and skill is of the highest caliber.
If Wushu is the art that thrills you to the core, if you youtube videos and say to yourself, "man, i wish i could do that," this is the man with whom to speak.
His precision of movement, focus, power and control are controlled to the tiniest nuance. He not only understands the composition of movement, the language and syntax and ornate vocabulary of gesture on the molecular level, but he will also teach what he knows to you.
Do you want to see things no one else can see, and do things no one else can do? Do you want to understand yourself better? Do you want to learn a rigorous physical art that is as deadly as it is beautiful? Cast your lot with this school. It's a group of extremely dedicated and enormously skilled students who stick together through thick and thin. I couldn't imagine a better place to train.
