Chicago's Green Dragon society

[Royal Dragon]

These guys seem to have a unique curicculem, and collection of systems. Does anyone have any familiarity with thier art, and where it comes from? It does not seem to be common Chinese martial arts...at least not in form names, or system names.

Those who have seen it, what more well known styles does it resemble?

I am actually toying with the idea of getting some of thier videos, just to get a look'see at the system.

Are there any Green Dragon system teachers still teaching that curriculem in the Chicago area, or has this line died out here?

[7starstudent]

I met a guy that trained at the Green Dragon Society. I asked him about all of the styles, etc. He said that as a beginner you trained in all of the animal styles until your sifu chose an animal that best fit your spirit. Sounded like complete bullsh1t to me. He then mentioned that his sifu had chosen his style as badger or groundhog or something equally ridiculous.

I don't know what's going on with them now; they're web site is no longer working.

[rogue]

Count Dante!

[Royal Dragon]

The little bit I know about them is they were ard core fighters. I crossed hands with a female who trained there once, and she was tough as nails. She was a little out of controll though, and fully engaged me in my living room much to Theresa's dismay.

We ended up going full contact for a little bit there, untill Theresa started yelling at us and we stopped.

What I noticed is that she was very agressive offensively, but also open to counter attacks, especially stuff that would be easily exposed by a good Shui Chiao player.

[Black Jack II]

Yes, I have some background in the system, one of my old teachers was a student at the GDS during the 60's and 70's when the time of the dojo wars was in full swing.

From a style perspective, it seems to be related more to the animal systems of bando than anything specific chinese, a mix of material with a very hardcore mindset behind it.

Dean teaches Chi Tao Ch'uan out of a church in Crystal Lake, if you want to learn the system most GDS teachers make you go through a interview first, then are put on a temp basis.

[Royal Dragon]

I am not interested in learning it, just a bit about it. Green Dragon is a significant part of Chicago area martial history.

Is there more than just Dean teaching it? Do they exist s a society still, or has everyone gone thier own way?

[Black Jack II]

No,

They are still around, different private individuals, and a few underground halls/temples around the chicagoland area, the public downtown Leopard hall being one. I don't know if the main unit still functions as hardcore as they used to, at one time there was a big split because of certain outlooks in ritual, but if they are, man those cats are gung ho.

There were other connected temples as well, Red Dragon Society being one. In the future there is a Count Dante documentary coming out that will have a little bit of info on the Green Dragons in it from what I have read.

[Royal Dragon]

Interesting. When will the documentary come out?

[Black Jack II]

No idea, the guy is in fundraising soon.

google the term...count dante blog....and you will see the filmmakers blog and trailer website for the movie. The blog is excellent and I would recommend starting from the beginning and reading it over for some nice tidbits about the chicago martial arts scene and count dante.

[Royal Dragon]

Will do.
Question, Bando is Malaysian? Am I correct in that?

[Black Jack II]

Burmese.

There are about two lines which teach it in the united states, Dr. Gyi's group and the Kachin tribe style by Phil Dunlap who I think posts on this board once and awhile.

[Shaolindynasty]

I've seen their "secret" manual. It's only given to "members. It looks like ed parker kenpo. I know some members and have gotten the same intitiation story from them. They are taken into a completely dark room except for some candles burning with a guy standing on each side of them holding an axe while they pledge themselves to the school. They also have allot of that "to deadly to spar" talk in their manual. Mostly unimpressive as a martial art school. Their wildly entertaining past makes up for it though.

BTW, the documentary is called "The search for count dante" By Floyd Webb. You can read about it here www.thesearchforcountdante.com

I'm actually going to be in the recreation of the dojo wars where dante attacked the green dragons and someone ends up dead on the end of a sword. Wild stuff

[Royal Dragon]

What exactly is "Bando", and do they have a similar set of animal forms?

[Black Jack II]

Were do you get no sparring from??

They sparred all the time from what I understand. I have first hand accounts from different sources of some serious old school bare knuckle sessions including one were a gent got his cornea ripped by some nuts fingernail.

Unlike a lot of the kata schools of the time, sparring seemed to be a solid part of there program to try and get in touch with the animal spirit deal of there's.

Mostly unimpressive as a martial art school

I can not vouch either, its not my cup of tea but the aggressive mentality is often there.

What exactly is "Bando", and do they have a similar set of animal forms?

Try googling Bando and you won't get much for certain reasons, best bet is the www.thaing.net site which has some good information. They have animal forms and the same applied principle of animal spirit selection depending on body type and natural way of fighting.

[Shaolindynasty]

Were do you get no sparring from??

Former students AND their manual.