Great Lakes Kung Fu Championships

[mooyingmantis]

Friends,
Sunday, April 10th at 10 AM I will be teaching a seminar for the Great Lakes Kung Fu Championships.

The seminar topic will be PRAYING MANTIS KUNG FU - MASTERING THE COMBINATIONS.

I will be teaching what I feel are some of the best combinations for self-defense and sport fighting found in the forms of the various Praying Mantis families.
The combinations will be practiced in the air, with a partner, and then on focus mitts. Proper form, speed, power and footwork will be emphasized.

The seminar cost is $50 per person and will be held at Case Western Reserve University in the Adelbert Gymnasium - 2128 Adelbert Drive Cleveland, Ohio 44106.

[EarthDragon]

awesome, I am talking it over with my students to see if they want ot make the trek down, I will keep u posted. i would want my students to do the seminar for sure. thanks for doing this

[-N-]

How about a list of the combinations that you'll be teaching?

Or even take some requests for particular ones to cover at the seminar?

A little marketing, as it were

[B.Tunks]

I will be teaching what I feel are some of the best combinations for self-defense and sport fighting found in the forms of the various Praying Mantis families

MM,

To be bluntly honest, I'm curious as to how you can teach the material found in the forms of the various Tanglang families outside of your own. Or will this be based solely on analysis of material from the internet, DVDs and books?

I ask as I recently read on your website that your art consists of:

'old school praying mantis kung fu theories & techniques taken from the Grand Ultimate Plum Flower Praying Mantis, Secret Door Praying Mantis, Eight Step Praying Mantis and Seven Star Praying Mantis styles'

http://www.mantismasters.com/index.html

I was under the impression that you had studied QXTL principally under Mike Biggie but did not know that you had in fact formally studied under masters of the above mentioned families. I was also surprised to see a picture of Cui Shoushan on your website and did not understand your familial relationship to him.

Cheers for any info you care to share.

BT

[B.Tunks]

Why I ask this now - until I visited your site recently I had no idea that Wuying Tanglang was your own style, which sparked my curiousity regarding your TLQ background.

BT

[mooyingmantis]

ED,

Hope you and your guys can make it! I believe that it will be a fun and informative time.

BT,

Yes, Wuying Tanglangquan is MY interpretation of what I have learned over the past couple decades from Mike Biggie (my past NPM teacher) and several other people of various Praying Mantis lineages.

Yes, some of my knowledge has come from translated books and videos from Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. As well as books in the English language. Though most of my knowledge was gained by touching hands with various practitioners.

I placed the photo of Cui Shoushan on my website simply because he was a famous PM teacher. I expect that most peeps who visit my website probably know nothing about tanglangquan. I could have put a picture of Lou Guang Yu or Mr. Dong who cooks at my favorite Chinese take-out restaurant and few would know who it was. To them it is just some "Chinese guy". It is simply eye candy.

All,
If you don't give a s-hit about lineage and want to learn some effective mantis combinations. My seminar will be a great place to do it.

If you are a board member, attend the seminar and think it was crap, I will gladly refund your money. I usually do not charge for seminars. However, it would be unfair to other presenters to offer a free seminar when they are charging for their seminar. Gino Belfiore said $50 is the typical charge, so that is what I am charging.

For those who have questions about my understanding of mantis and my personal ability, this will be a great opportunity to meet me, see what I do, see how I teach, touch hands if you like, and report back to the board on whether I am the real deal or a flake. I have no fear of showing what I do and having my skills assessed by my peers.

Given the above, I really don't see what anyone could lose by attending. You might even actually learn something from a guy with a combination of 43 years of martial arts experience.

[B.Tunks]

Thanks for answering so honestly regarding your sources. Out of interest, I'm keen to know who are the other TLQ people that you have trained under.

As far as lineage - my enquiry wasn't really about that per se, apart from the question about Cui Shoushan (which you have answered clearly). I wasn't sure what your TL background was apart from Mike Biggie and therefore looking at your site I was given the impression that you had also studied/were teaching Cui's Tanglang (I couldn't find reference to Mike Biggie either). Given that the average person visiting your website knows nothing about Tanglang, he may also think the same thing. Yes, you could have used a pic of anyone there but for example, if you had put Li Zhanyuan's pic there I would ask you to remove it.

I think people attending the seminar should give a sh.it about lineage in this case, specifically because you will be demonstrating combinations from the various families. I agree people certainly should attend the seminar and make up their own minds about what is on offer and I wish you all the best with it. Of course there is something valuable to learn from a guy of 43 years experience, but I would think that it would be the material that is rightfully his.

BT

[Young Mantis]

Richard,

While I appreciate your honesty in answering BT's questions about your website, I am also somewhat appalled by it as well. I agree with BT 100% that by having a photo of any PM master on your site implies that you represent that lineage. And to refer to the image of anyone, whether a revered TLQ master or a Chinese cook in your local restaurant as simply "eye candy" says to me that you believe as long as there is a picture of a Chinese looking person, then it implies authenticity to your school and website. That a person's image can be just a token symbol. I hope you will reconsider your choices for how you wish to present yourself and your school through your website.

Vance

[mooyingmantis]

BT,
Thank you for your kind well wishes!

As far as my other instructors, I am sorry but I am not free to give out that information. I am not trying to be elusive or mysterious. I have received things from others in the US and abroad who have asked to remain anonymous. As I am sure you have seen on this forum and others, the Internet is full of p i ss ing contests. Some of the people I have received information from do not want any part of it and have asked to remain anonymous. Sucks for me, but I have to respect their wishes.

Though I disagree that placing a picture of a famous PM instructor on my website equates to lineage, I will take it down since a couple of you are offended by it. I try to conduct myself as a gentleman, so I can easily acquiesce on this point. However, please be patience, I am having trouble with the site building device and was unable to delete the picture a few minutes ago. My Computer Fu is very weak.

All the material that I will be presenting is "rightfully" mine. It is MY interpretation of the lessons I have learned from others.

[mooyingmantis]

-N-,

The combinations I am teaching will come from the following tao lu:

Black Tiger Crossing
Praying Mantis Steals the Peach
White Ape Offers the Book
First Essentials
Second Essentials

[EarthDragon]

though I disagree that placing a picture of a famous PM instructor on my website equates to lineage,

Richard,
I have pics of many PM teachers on my website, adam hsu, raymond fogg, branden li, however they are on my "photos" page as I have had the pleasure to meet and touch hands with them.

However this obviously could not be construed as I learned from or was a student of them as they are not in my lineage form Chiang Hua Long and are shared on this page with karate, qigong and taji teachers i have had the pleasure to meet.

You dont have to necessaily remove this photo but perhaps if you post the pics as I have done in a general "photos" page no misunderstanding or offending can occur. just a suggestion

[mooyingmantis]

Richard,
I have pics of many PM teachers on my website, adam hsu, raymond fogg, branden li, however they are on my "photos" page as I have had the pleasure to meet and touch hands with them.

However this obviously could not be construed as I learned from or was a student of them as they are not in my lineage form Chiang Hua Long and are shared on this page with karate, qigong and taji teachers i have had the pleasure to meet.

You dont have to necessaily remove this photo but perhaps if you post the pics as I have done in a general "photos" page no misunderstanding or offending can occur. just a suggestion

Sounds like a plan.

[-N-]

-N-,

The combinations I am teaching will come from the following tao lu:

Black Tiger Crossing
Praying Mantis Steals the Peach
White Ape Offers the Book
First Essentials
Second Essentials

More than enough to keep people busy

[mooyingmantis]

More than enough to keep people busy

Thanks!

Probably after the seminar I will post my seminars notes here and maybe a short videoclip (if peeps do not mind being filmed).

[Luk Hop]

Great. More Authentic Kung Fu.