Do the Shaolin Monks still tour?

[GeneChing]

...at a Shopping mall, no less. Love the pic.

Chinese kung fu fighters dazzle Dubai
Carol Huang
Last Updated: Feb 9, 2011


Shoppers watch the Shaolin Monks from China perform at the Mirdif City Centre in Dubai. Amy Leang / The National

DUBAI // Martial artists from China's storied Shaolin Temple training centre kicked, leapt, broke steel over their heads and balanced on spearheads onstage at Mirdif City Centre.

At Monday night's show, a crowd of hundreds saved the most applause for the youngest of the seven-strong troupe, 10-year-old Yang Xiaotai, for his fast acrobatics.

The youngster burst onto the stage with three handsprings. Standing, he lifted one leg behind his head, then leapt into splits on the floor. Still sitting, he tucked both legs behind his head, tumbled forward and walked on his hands. Then he backflipped onto his head, whirled around like a breakdancer and flipped back onto his feet.

The older performers, ranging in age from 13 to 18, with shaved heads and wearing matching gold tunics, whipped through the air with quick kicks and sharp 360-degree turns. Some twirled and dodged metal chains that were moving so fast they looked fluid.

Then came the harder, more impressive stunts. Zheng Zhengwu, 18, emerged carrying a steel bar. He warmed up with intense motions apparently meant to concentrate his qi, or inner energy. Then he slapped the steel over his skull - and broke it.

Near the end of the 20-minute show - part of Dubai Shopping Festival - Zheng returned shirtless followed by five teammates carrying spears. They lifted him, face down, over their heads, and then withdrew their arms and held him up instead by the points of their spears: one on his chest, two on his abdomen and two on his feet.

The Shaolin style earned worldwide fame through films such as Shaolin Temple, starring renowned martial artist Jet Li. Major Hollywood movies featuring martial arts widened its appeal.

"We grew up watching them on TV, in movies, so we liked it," Shan Liang, the team manager, said.

Many of the thousands of practitioners at the Shaolin Temple start from a young age and practise every day.

Zheng, 18, said he may have broken 1,000 steel bars over his head by now. "At first I was afraid, but now I am used to it," he said. "I've lost track of how many times I've done it."

The troupe have travelled across Europe, and to Brazil and Australia. They last performed in January in Doha, and next month they will tour Lithuania and Poland. They have given shows in Dubai and Abu Dhabi several times, including three each night in the past week at Mirdif.

After the Monday night performance spectator Abdulrahman Alotaibi, 7, leapt up from his seat on the floor and jumped around, imitating the martial artists as his parents laughed. "The whole thing was very surprising," his father, Fahd, said.

"I like Shaolin very much," said Alessia Corace, 39, a stay-at-home mother from Italy who studied kung fu for four years.

Ms Corace would like her two-year-old son to learn kung fu, but realises he is still young. "Maybe when he is three," she said.

[GeneChing]

Dig those red & yellow robes. I'd totally rock those with a green sash.

Year of the rabbit
By ORI J. LENKINSKI
02/11/2011 14:29



BeijingDance LDTX and an ensemble of Shaolin monks will entertain audiences this month, which marks the beginning of the Chinese new year.

To honor the coming of the Chinese new year, the Suzanne Dellal Center and the Chinese government will bring two troupes to perform in Tel Aviv in February as part of the Chinese Spring Dance project.

Ushering in the year of the rabbit, the company BeijingDance LDTX and an ensemble of Shaolin monks will travel to Israel. This coming week, Neveh Tzedek will be overrun with the talented artists of BeijingDance LDTX and a group of incredibly lithe Shaolin monks.

BeijingDance LDTX (Lei Dong Tian Xia), literally “thunder rumbles under heaven,” was founded in 2005. It was the first company to be established in China independent of the government. Led by Willy Tsao, known worldwide as the godfather of contemporary Chinese dance, the troupe has dissolved many boundaries between acceptable and unacceptable performance in their home country. In an evening called Celebration, the amazingly skilled dancers of BeijingDance LDTX will perform original works from their vast repertoire.

One of Tsao’s main objectives as artistic director of BeijingDance LDTX is to promote and encourage emerging choreographers. As such, he is constantly searching for new talent, mainly among his dancers. For its Israeli shows, BeijingDance has put together a tasting menu of its work.

Four pieces will be presented, each choreographed by a slightly different mix of artists.

An abridged version of The Cold Dagger will start the evening. The work was choreographed by Li Hanzhong, deputy artistic director, in collaboration with star dancer Ma Bo.

Following that is Sky by Liu Bing and Song Tingting, an excerpt from One Table Two Chairs by Willy Tsao, Li Hanzhong and Ma Bo. Finally, All River Red, which is one of the company’s most recent and most successful pieces. In All River Red, choreographers Li Hanzhong and Ma Bo adapted Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring to fit their culture. Presenting a painful and honest portrayal of the clash between East and West, the piece is a dramatic and moving work.

The second evening in this festival is more martial arts than dance; however, the monks’ performance will be no less physically demanding than that of BeijingDance LDTX. The Shaolin monks will perform a traditional demonstration of stage combat, drawn from hundreds of years of tradition and practice.

The first evidence of Shaolin kung fu dates back to the sixth century. A few battles were documented, during which monks from the Shaolin temple defeated robbers by using their unique skills. In the 16th and 17th centuries, martial arts became an integral part of life in the temple.


In 1610, the first manual on the form was printed, entitled Exposition on the Original Shaolin Staff Method, a document that is still used today. In recent years, due to increased international attention, the abbot of Shaolin opened his doors to the media, allowing a 1,500-year-old tradition to enter pop culture.

Many choreographers have referenced the deft movements of these monks in their dance pieces.

Most recently, Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi used 50 similarly trained monks in his epic work Sutra, which toured in Israel last year.

The two shows will run from the February 13 to 20, with performances in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Karmiel and Beersheba.


BeijingDance LDTX will perform at the Suzanne Dellal Center on Feb. 14 and 15.
The Shaolin Monks will perform on Feb. 16, 18 and 19. For tickets, visit www.suzannedellal.org.il or call (03) 510-5656

[ShaolinDan]

ha! nice linking. I actually am a 'green sash.' It's tough 'cause my nice uniform has red trim...truly striking. Still, it's better than purple was.

[GeneChing]

Tiny Shaolin Kung Fu Troupe Finds Itself in Brotherhood
2015-03-02 09:45:13 CRIENGLISH.com Web Editor: Wang Wei



A Shaolin monk practices Shaolin Kung Fu which is believed to be the oldest institutionalized style of kung fu. [Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images/CFP]

A group of young Kung Fu enthusiasts, hand-picked by Chinese film star Jackie Chan, are preparing to take their performances to the United States as part of their current international tour.

CRI's Xu Fei has more.

It is a story about growing-up.

The eleven young men performing Shaolin Kung Fu in this original Kung Fu show, The Eleven Monks, have been through a lot and have had a tough time.

They belong to a small Shaolin Kung Fu troupe called Dragon Rhythm. Their show borrows elements from dance dramas, theater plays and high-tech variety shows, making it work both on stage and on the TV screen.

In 2006, the eleven teenage boys were handpicked by Kung Fu star Jackie Chan. They were sent to a deserted factory in suburban Beijing and that has been both their school and home.

The oldest member Hu Mingwu is also the art director of the troupe. He turned down several opportunities and decided to stay for the sake of his fellow members.

"After all these years, we are here not for ourselves, but for the others."

Troupe leader Hu Wei is like a mom to those young men. She has witnessed all the ups and downs of the troupe and also the changes of her young troupe members and the bonding between them.

Hu Wei is now in her 60s. As the mom of this big family, she says she never ignores teaching the young men what is really important in life.

"What does the starting point mean? I think it indicates how to be a good person. Knowing the techniques well is far from enough. Being a good person is the first and foremost thing."

The "big brother" Hu Mingwu says this approach has shaped what he is like and what the troupe is like today.

"I didn't quite get what seniors told us that being a good person is the precondition to achieving career success. But now I get it. How well a person lives his life is connected with his career. It is a delicate thing. I think if we can hold on to this bonding, this brotherhood, we will never lose the affection from the audience."

The troupe is currently in Israel and it is about to embark on its global tour to the U.S. and Europe with up to 100 shows later this year.

This one confuses me. First off, Dragon Rhythm is the name of a Shaolin school in Fremont here run by Master Long Yuan, our 2010 WildAid Tiger Claw Champion. Second, my last Shaolin coach, Shi Yantuo, is promoting a show in San Diego called 13 Shaolin Monks on Sunday, April 12, 2015, 7:00 pm PST at David & Dorothea Garfield Theatre, 4126 Executive Drive, La Jolla, CA 92037. That's 13, not 11. Lastly, the Jackie Chan story sounds odd - was this his stunt team school that he was developing prior to Disciples? I only have a feint memory of that which might well be faulty.

[ShaolinDiva]

Does sound odd. Doesn't the abbot endorse official shows that have to do with anything that comes from Shaolin Temple China? If not, I guess its not "official" Shaolin from what I understand.

[GeneChing]

Unless, of course, the Abbot himself is actually on the tour. That makes it official for sure.

Shaolin monks to tour Silk Road
English.news.cn 2015-07-16 19:12:43

ZHENGZHOU, July 16 (Xinhua) -- China's Shaolin Temple is going to send monks and other Buddhists in the footsteps of their ancient counterparts as it begins to organize tours of the Silk Road, it announced on Thursday.

As part of the temple's work to promote itself abroad, it plans to organize cultural exchange activities and shoot hundreds of videos while on the road.

The first stop of the tour is Thailand. Led by Shaolin Abbot Shi Yongxin, 42 monks and 45 other Buddhists will hold activities in Bangkok and Chiangmai between August 1 and 6.

"Ancient Indian monks used the Silk Road to travel to China and preach Buddhism, and Chinese monks traveled in the opposite direction in search of sacred Buddhist books. In a sense, the Shaolin Temple is a product of Buddhist cultural exchange," said Shi Yongxin.

The Shaolin Temple, built in the late fifth century and located in central China's Henan Province, is the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and the cradle of Chinese kungfu.