Slanted Flying

Author: Slanted Flying

  • Chen Qingzhou Passes Away At 82 Years Old

    Chen Qingzhou Passes Away At 82 Years Old

    Master Chen Qingzhou (1934 – 2015) passed away on September 21, 2015. He was a 19th-generation lineage holder of Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan. At the age of nine, he started learning the Chen family art from his father Chen Wufang. It was the Chen Family Old Frame that he was first trained in. Later, when he was 19 years old, Chen Qingzhou was sent to 18th-generation master Chen Zhaopi to further his studies.

    Below is a video of Chen Qingzhou performing the Chen Family style of Tai Chi Chuan.

    Chen Qingzhou taught the Chen style of Tai Chi Chuan all over China as well as many places around the world. He was well respected in the global Tai Chi community and his teaching and guidance will truly be missed.

  • Tai Chi Caledonia Celebrates 20 Years

    Tai Chi Caledonia Celebrates 20 Years

    Tai Chi Caledonia 2015 just finished on July 24th. This annual event, which brings together enthusiasts of Tai Chi Chuan, is held in the Scottish Highlands. The week long training camp, held at the campus of the Stirling University, draws instructors and participants form the local area as well as from across the water.

    Held from July 1t7h through to the 24th, the 20th annual event featured various workshops and discussions of Tai Chi Chuan. Instructors for this wonderful gathering included Dan Docherty, Faye Li Yip, Barry McGinlay, Ronnie Robinson, Luke Shepherd, as well as a few other well qualified teachers of Tai Chi Chuan.

    If you are thinking about attending the 21st annual Tai Chi Caledonia next year, or just want to find more information, you can visit the website of Tai Chi Caledonia for more information.

  • Travel – A Teacher’s Story

    Travel – A Teacher’s Story

    Hau Kum Lueng Kneip is a teacher of Tai Chi Chuan in Chicago, United States. She began her journey in Tai Chi in 1978, learning the Yang style in Hong Kong, and later from the Dong/Tung family in Hawaii. She has also furthered her studies in Tai Chi Chuan in Mainland China and Taiwan as well.

    Teaching at various venues in Chicago, Hua Kum Lueng Kneip has been sharing her love of the art for more than 20 years. She has taught in Chicago at places such as the Columbia College, Skokie Public Library, and The Center for Life and Learning at the Fourth Presbyterian Church. Many of her students have gone on to become respected teachers of Tai Chi Chaun as well.

    Please enjoy this wonderfully filmed video titled “Travel” featuring Hau Kum Lueng Kneip, which was directed and produced by Cheng Cheng.

    Don’t forget to check out our other Tai Chi videos and let us know what you think of them!

  • Tai Chi Park Was Built As Tribute For A Teacher

    Tai Chi Park Was Built As Tribute For A Teacher

    Tai Chi park 1A group of Tai Chi Chuan practitioners in Bethesda, Maryland have built a special Park in memory of David C. Chen who was their beloved Tai Chi teacher. After he passed away in 2005, Chen’s students wanted to do something to honor his memory.

    For the many years that David Chen had taught in Bethesda, he held practices on Saturday mornings outdoors at Cabin John Regional Park. His students wanted to continue that tradition and came up with the idea for a Tai Chi Park where anyone could come for free to practice and learn Tai Chi in the spirit and memory of their teacher.

    In 2006, his students began the process for building the memorial park. They surveyed the local community for support of the project. A local architect donated his time to develop the plans for the Tai Chi park.

    In 2011 the project was approved by the Montgomery County where the park is situated, and in June the official ground breaking for the project began. The David C. Chen Memorial Tai Chi Court at Cabin John Regional Park in Bethesda, MD officially opened on September 17, 2011.

    Please check out our other articles on designated Tai Chi parks!

  • Tai Chi For Cool

    Tai Chi For Cool

    The video “Origin of Speciality – Energy” is a blend of Tai Chi Chuan and Fashion. “OWNONLY” is a new clothing company that wanted to film a video that would be unique to promote their clothing line for men. The video features Tai Chi practitioner Armand Babo performing Tai Chi as his clothes change between wearing a fashionable mens suit and a Tai Chi Uniform.

    Please enjoy watching this wonderful video of Tai Chi and Fashion

    The idea for the video was conceived by Dario Martinez, who asked his friend Armand Babo if he would be interested in working on the project. Dario and Armand met each other when they were both attending university in Hangzhou. Armand Babo is an award winning Tai Chi practitioner, a Kung Fu Wushu coach, and the president and founder of the BKF International WUSHU Academy.

    “The ideas for videos have been a source of laughter for everyone in our office, but most of those ideas are just for fun and might be done later. This Tai Chi video was a more serious idea and based on the business culture we want to promote of taking ownership of your work and always being yourself. Which is why, in the video, Armand is a constant expression of himself regardless if he is in his Tai Chi clothing or in a suit. That is a constant that I think we should all strive for in our own lives.”

    – Jason Shepherd

    The company started setting up the business in the summer of 2013, and their website went online in March 2014. Armand Babo came in for a few hours to shoot the video on the 25th of July. Dario Martinez and the video editor worked for a few days to finish the work on the video, and it went online on August 4th, 2014.

    You can find out more information about this exciting new company at www.ownonly.com.

     

  • Tai Chi In The Urban Setting

    Tai Chi In The Urban Setting

    Tai Chi Chuan is normally practiced in quiet settings such as studios and parks. In this wonderfully filmed video we get to see the art of Tai Chi Chuan being practiced by Marco Gagnon, performing his art in the urban setting of the city.

    Marco Gagnon is passionate artist who has been interested in drawing and martial arts from an early age. He has carried these passions into his adult life and is now a professional graphic designer, and instructor of Tai Chi Chuan. Marco Gagnon is the director of a Tai Chi Chuan school dedicated to the teachings of Yang Zhenduo and Yang Jun, and is also the President of Martial Arts graphic design company as well as a full-time designer with the company.

    The video was created by Marco Gagnon and his friend, Steve Pellerin, who is a photographer. You can see some of Pellerin’s work at StevePellerin.comn. The final work on the video had been created by elem5nts.com which is the graphic design department of Gagnon’s company.

    [quote]”We wanted to express the hardness contained into the softness of the Yang Style. Keep the hardness and speed of the movement into the softness and slowness to produce the energy without loosing it. This is one of the secrets of good practice. But how can you produce Chi if you don’t have intention into the movement? We wanted to show the production of energy through the movement…. my English is not really good to express this concept. I hope you understand what I mean…

    We also use different locations to show that Tai Chi Chuan was originally an outside practice and wanted to keep the «urban» style in mind!”

    – Marc Gagnon –

    [/quote]

    Marco Gagnon has been learning the Yang Family style of Tai Chi Chuan from Yang Jun for more than 14 years. You can find out more about Marco by visiting his website MarcoGagnon.net

    If you are interested in seeing the great martial arts graphics from his company, you can see more at the website MartialArtsGraphics.net.

  • A Week Of Tai Chi In The Beautiful Scottish Highlands

    A Week Of Tai Chi In The Beautiful Scottish Highlands

    Tai Chi Caledonia 2014 just wrapped up this last week. It is an annual event which is held on the grounds of the Stirling University campus, just outside of the city of Stirling in the beautiful Scottish highlands. Participants and instructors came from close by and internationally as well.

    Held from June 13th through to the 20th, the event featured workshops and discussions on various topics of Tai Chi Chuan as well as demonstrations from the instructors. Some of the world class instructors included the likes of Sam Masich, Ronnie Robinson, Barry McGinlay, Luke Shepherd, and Gianfranco Pace.

    If you are interested in attending next years event, you can visit the website of Tai Chi Caledonia.

    To view more videos of the event, you can visit this Youtube Playlist of Nils Klug.

  • Sage Of Roxbury

    Sage Of Roxbury

    The Sage of Roxbury is a short film by Brynmore Williams. This wonderful short film features Heg Robinson, who has been practicing the art Tai Chi for 47 years. Robinson is the founder of The Roxbury Tai Chi Academy located in Roxbury, Massachusetts, which he founded in 1973.

    The Sage of Roxbury from brynmore on Vimeo.

    Heg Robinson has learned from several notable Tai Chi teachers. The one that probably has had the most influence on his practice would have been T.T. Liang. Before Robinson learned Tai Chi Chuan, he was depressed and on the verge of suicide. In the film he talks about how he was sitting at the edge of the small Lake with a gun in his hand contemplating suicide. T.T. Liang, who was practicing a short distance away noticed the troubled man, approached Robinson and the exchange between the two men changed Heg Robinson’s life forever. Robinson also had the opportunity to study Tai Chi Chuan with Chu Gin-Soon and T. K. Shis.

    To find out more about Heg Robinson and the Roxbury Tai Chi Academy, visit RoxburyTaiChiAcademy.com

    To see more work of filmmaker Brynmore Williams, visit vimeo.com/brynmore

  • International Tai Chi Chuan Symposium

    International Tai Chi Chuan Symposium

    From July 6-11, 2014, “The International Tai Chi Chuan Symposium on Health, Education and Cultural Exchange” will hold it’s 2014 event titled “Traditional Tai Chi Chuan – Directly from the Source”. The symposium will feature five of the top masters of Tai Chi Chuan, each one representing one of the five major styles of traditional Tai Chi Chuan.

    This year the major styles of Tai Chi Chuan will be represented by:

    Chen Zhenglei – Chen Family style of Tai Chi Chuan
    Yang Jun – Yang Family style of Tai Chi Chuan
    Zhong Zhenshan – Wu/Hao Family style of Tai Chi Chuan
    Ma Hailong – Wu Family style of Tai Chi Chuan
    Sun Yongtian – Sun Family style of Tai Chi Chuan

    The event will be held at Spalding University in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. There will be hundreds of Tai Chi enthusiasts from across North America, as well as internationally. It will be a rare chance to experience seeing five highly regarded standard bearers of the major styles of Tai Chi Chuan. To find out more information about the Symposium, visit the website of Tai Chi Chuan Symposium.

    Please enjoy watching presenters from the The Grand Showcase of Martial Arts at the 2009 International Tai Chi Chuan Symposium.

  • Tai Chi Makes This 100-Year-Old Feel Young

    Tai Chi Makes This 100-Year-Old Feel Young

    100-year-old Florine Ferree has a secret to her long life. Besides having a positive attitude and buying shoes, she says that practicing Tai Chi Chuan helps her keep on her toes! Ferree practices Tai Chi almost everyday. She takes part in a Tai Chi class for seniors in St. Louis, Missouri. Along with the other students in the class, Ferree is taught by Tai Chi instructor Violet Li.

    Please enjoy this video by St. Louis News Channel KSDK.

    Besides instructing seniors in Tai Chi, Violet Li is also an award winning journalist and author of over 300 articles on Tai Chi, Qigong, and Fitness for Examiner.com Li is a student of Chen Zhenglei, an 11th generation direct-line inheritor of Chen style of Tai Chi Chuan.

    NOTE (January 17/2015)* The video featured in the article was filmed five years ago when Florine Ferree was 100 years old, sadly she passed away in the spring of 2015. She was 105 1/2 years old!