School Birthday Performance

Kunyushan Performance.



Its the 7th birthday of the academy so the masters will do a performance. Then master told us one student from each master will do a form. Me and clement will perform but he does Baji and i do WingChun. The other guys are doing two Shaolin fist forms, shaolin sword form, and one mantis form. Master told us some friends of the head master, police guys from the town, and tourists will come watch us.Master asked me to perform my WingChun "fist form, Sin Lim Tao", at the Kunyushan birthday performance.

Last Wednsday during the last class in the evening, Master Chu called me and clement out of class and brought us to the stage to practice our forms with the other performing students. The other masters watched us and told us where to stand and such. Later that night Jenny the translator came to my room to tell me at 7:20pm we have to meet at the stage to practice for the performance on thursday. Only problem was she told me at 7:17pm and i was in bed already showered and ready to sleep! But still I throw on on some clothes, shoes, and run down to the stage outside. Its pitch dark outside! I found Allen and Sharadon, the two guys who are doing the shaolin fist form, sitting on the stage. We did not know where everyone else was so Allen found a frisbe and we played, not "catch", not "pass the frisbee", we played "see if you can see the frisbe coming towards you in the dark" and catch it or dodge it. We played that game for about 5 minutes and not once did anyone catch the frisbee, we would see the frisbe at the last moment and then dodge! Hey i guess its called "Kung Fu Frisbee". 

Then the other students joined us and then the Masters. The Head master gathered us all together by the stage and told us that this is the first time students will ever perform along side the masters here in Kunyushan. We all felt honored to perform with the masters. 

Then we began running through the order of the performance. Only problem was it was a little dark. They turned the lights on in the hall so we had some light. But it was kept pretty dark so no one else could watch the practice sessions.  The students performed first. Three guys on the left of the stage and then three guys on the right. It started with a shaolin fist form and he came from the left when he went off one guy from the right went on, then left, then right,  I was the last one to perform out of the 6. I felt so embaressed to do my WingChun form. All the other guys did jumps or big movements in their forms but i do not move my feet at all,my form was just hand moves. But master wanted me to represent WingChun and the form i did was the most famous form in WingChun.  I performed this form at the competition in front of the Masters and hundreds of chinese people but never the head master. If i messed up tonight he would probably not let me participate in the performance tomorrow. But i did ok. When i finished my form the head master said 'Good job' which help me to relax.  Once i finished, the masters performed their forms. Master Xiang, aka "Terminator", did a Pudao form which was amazing. Master Shao, aka "Smiling Budda" did a shaolin staff form. Master Rong, aka "Baby Face" did a druken straight sword form. Master Guo, aka "G-Unit" did two performances, 1. WingChun dummy form noone ever seen and he did it blind folded, 2. He also did a QiGong demonstration of breaking marble. Master Qu, aka "Chewy" did a mantis staff form. Master Xiang and Shao did a QiGong performance as well by breaking staffs on their bodies. 

After all the masters finished the Head Master did a Taiji form and when he finished we all lined up and Saluted together and walked off. We practiced that whole sequence about 4 times with music. This was the first time students ever saw the masters practice. At night the Masters practice their forms but in the training hall with doors closed and window curtains closed. It was shocking seeing the head master show the other masters where to land in the form and if they did a move wrong he would correct them. I never knew a Kung Fu Master needed to practice too.  Then after an hour the head master called us all together again. He said tomorrow they will video our performance and   show future new students who come here our "amazing" forms. Even though we will eventually leave this acadamy, our faces wont be forgotten. I thought that was an honor as well.

Thursday was a good day. At 10am we began the performance. There were about 40 chinese guests along with the rest of the academy. TV people from Yantai and near by cities where there taking pictures, and somehow my nerves began to tingle. But i kept thinking that i won two gold medals in this form so i must know what i'm doing. Once the show started and my friends performed i began calming down. I got up there and did my form and felt as calm as ever. It was then that I realized that I enjoy performing in front of people. It give you this certain rush feeling. 

When the Masters all finished, we all saluted together and walked off. Many pictures were taken afterward. When i saw Master Guo after lunch he told me many of the chinese guests were talking about my WingChun form. He said i did it very well. WingChun is not practiced a lot up north so when they saw WingChun they must think its special.

I hope i am picked to do more presentations in the future.

-Scott