Last Nights Shaolin Temple Tour

[hskwarrior]

Well, through my connections of Chinatown i got to go to the Shaolin Temple performance again and this year they added a few new things.

overall, the only thing i didn't like was the length of the show. thats all.

attached are a few photo's for your viewing enjoyment.

[hskwarrior]

and a couple of more

[Shaolinlueb]

thats cool. looks like they did some suff different from the wheel of life tour. the wheel of life tour is the only one i have scene.

how was their lion dancing?

[hskwarrior]

Actually the Shaolin Group did northern lion dancing which was great to watch. but when it came to the southern lion dancing Yau Kung Mun was hired to represent. the southern lion photo's are of Yau Kung Mun.

One of the monks showed incredible strength when one of the little monks did the rice bowl on the belly thing. this time the boy arched back in to a back bend and the other adult shaolin monk used his fingers and picked the boy up off the floor with just his fingertips on the bottom part of the bowl.

this time also they used a lot more hip hop style chinese music too. all in all was great to watch.

hsk

[GeneChing]

See our Shaolin Shows in SF thread (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?t=37527&page=2) for me. Thanks for the pics, hskwarrior. It's good to have an inside man sneaking some shots all ninja-style here on our forum. How long did that hanging monk stay suspended in the air? Did he do a dead-weight hang or did he swing about?

[hskwarrior]

hey gene,

that monk hung there buy his neck (actually he had a chin strap with a harness for the base of his skull) for about 2 minutes maybe more. but he was really high up there. and yeah he just hung there--no swinging.

whats your guys opinions on monks using slippery gloves to enhance the look of thrusting the staff or spear also makes it quicker, but is that cheating?


hey gene, maybe you should hire me to take more photo's? I need a job!!!!!


hsk

[GeneChing]

Gloves? That's bizarre. I've never seen that. What kind of gloves?

My understanding is that this group is not comprised of indoctrinated monks. I'm told they are from one of the many private schools. I'm not even sure if they are really even actual wuseng, but that term is getting more and more ambiguous. Hopefuly I can make it out ot one of the shows and find out a little more. This is a completely new group apparently, with no connection to any of the previous groups except for that they all come from the same area, more or less.

And sorry, we're not hiring at this time. I wish we were. Remarkably, you're not the first person to ask me this recently. I've had several inquiries over the last few months. That's worrisome. If I hear of anything, I'll let you know...

[hskwarrior]

yeah i noticed the ones in their teens were a little different than what i've seen before.

the first thing i noticed that while one was doing a chi-gung demo he had a necklace on and i've never seen that before.

but the glove was just on the forward hand to make it easier to slide i guess. it looked like and ankle brace except for the wrists. you know the white stretchy cloth material.


thanks for even responding about the job thing.

hsk

[GeneChing]

..perhaps the glove was some sort of brace or bandage to cover some injury. Any Chinese performer must really struggle to make an international demo team. If, in the course of their tour, they get injured, it's just tough. They must grin and bear it. I've seen a lot of the touring monks and wushu people up close, and they are often really beat up. Performance martial arts requires that you push it to the limit, and that can come with a tremendous cost.

As for the job, you know our 'advertise here' ads in the magazine? The "will break boards for food" campaign? It's freakin' prophesy, man. When the economy goes bad, martial arts are considered a hobby, a luxury, and even with the paranoia of national security, I'm hearing lots of depressing reports of talented practitioners that can't find work. The SF Bay area is particularly saturated.