Weak in the knees

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[youtube=fS0QYq26V2g]

The "9th World Grand Wushu Festival 2008, Shanghai" is coming up next weekend. I am competing in two events. One is the traditional bare hand category, where I will be representing Chen Jia Wushu by performing a form (Taolu) that I learned in America from Sifu Tom Akers and DaiSiHing Robert Sheffield. I am nervous about this one because I remember most of the form, but not all, and I'm still waiting on videos from back home to supplement the rest of my bad memory. I will have to spend much time this week on this form to ensure a good performance on the weekend... Hopefully my download completes soon. I am very happy, though, to represent this awesome and very traditional training which is alive and well in America. There have been a few instances where people in Shanghai have come to me and asked me where I've trained. According to them, its apparent that I have been trained in a southern Chinese martial art. This makes me very proud because Chen Sue Jue LaoShifu, the man who brought our kung fu from China, came from the Canton area in Southern China (from just above Hong Kong). I hope that my performance will honor my martial ancestors, both living and passed.

The second event is a Chen style Taiji form that I have learned from Zhang Laoshi here in Shanghai. The form is pretty simple and I think I can make it look good for the competition. Actually I just learned it yesterday, which is mildly frustrating. I have been learning a very long form (about 10 minutes start to finish) for the past month, which I mistakenly thought was to be my competetion form. As of today I feel confident that I know the whole thing. The competition form is a simplified variation of the complex form, so all I really need to do is learn a slightly different order for the reduced number of moves and I will be ok.

For the past month I have been waking up 2 hours before my Chinese Language classes in order to practice Taiji at LuXun park for an hour each morning. Perhaps, considering my horrible memory, this is why I can actually remember the form... I haven't made every single day, sometimes because of a heavy night of drinking with friends, but this past week I have stayed away because I am experiencing knee pain. The Taiji movements are very low, and I suppose I am not used to such intensive use of my legs. The thigh and calf pain subsided after the first week because I am no stranger to hard work and low stances, but after three weeks of consistently using low stances for the better part of my training sessions, I suppose my knees just need a break to mend and heal. I will attend tonight's class to solidify my knowledge of my competition form, but tomorrow, and possibly Tuesday, I will not attend the early meetings at the park.

For those of you watching from home, rest assured that I will have pictures and hopefully some videos of the international competition for your enjoyment. I am looking forward to this more as a spectator than as a competitor. Actually large crowds make me nervous, but the training at the park has been good for my public shyness. When the teacher asks to perform the movements, I jump straight to action as I would back home for Sheffield DaiSiHing. Lately when there is a throng of Chinese and even Western tourists watching because we are in a very public area of a very busy park, I find myself less nervous and actually proud of the work that I've done. Hopefully I will feel the same inspiration when I am looking at the judges in front of the grandstands.

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Comments

[Claude]

Good Luck :)
I will be at the Shanghai Wushu Festival as well. If I see you perform I will root for you !