Tucson’s “Kung Fu” event welcomes the New Year (Photos)

Tucson’s “Kung Fu” event welcomes the New Year (Photos) Huiming If you celebrate the Chinese New Year in Arizona this year, you will definitely not feel like you are far away from your hometown. In addition to all parts of China...

>Huiming

When you celebrate the Chinese New Year in Arizona this year, you definitely won’t feel like you’re far away from home. In addition to live broadcasts of celebrations across China, singers and dancers from Phoenix and Tucson also used their melodious voices and graceful dances to provide wonderful live programs for the Chinese here, adding color to the celebration of the Year of the Sheep. What is refreshing is that there is also a music and dance show focusing on Chinese Kung Fu in Tucson. What is regrettable is that most Chinese are keen on traditional singing and dancing and ignore the chivalrous tenderness here. What is gratifying is that there are hundreds of American audiences who are fascinated by it and do not want to leave for a long time. This performance was jointly planned, designed and organized by Zhao Shuping from the Tucson Wushu Team, Zhao Junming, a martial arts teacher from the Confucius Institute at the University of Arizona, and American friend Cathy. Shao Lin Temple Culture Center Arizona participated in the entire performance. Martial arts programs have always been part of the Spring Festival performances, but it is a very interesting and joyful attempt to separate martial arts as the main line of the program that connects Chinese historical moral concepts and the Chinese people's strong and soft characters. The program kicked off with the cheerful music of lion dance. But no one expected that following two lively and cute lions, a panoramic view of the Chinese martial arts suddenly appeared: a Tai Chi boxer led his apprentices to slowly unfold the story of the martial arts: whether it is the softness of the fan or the sharpness of the sword, whether it is the whirring wind of the three-section stick or the sound of the nine-section whip falling to the ground, it is a complex and a scenery that is pursued throughout life. It looks really good, but will the audience understand it? The host of the program took his time and started introducing the history of Tai Chi school and the Tucson Tai Chi group. The Yang Tai Chi team also took advantage of the eloquent narration to start a continuous, soft and strong dance of form and meaning. Perhaps Qi sinking into the Dantian and using Qi to move the body are too mysterious and profound for American audiences, but a performance with the chest held back and a white crane spreading its wings are still enough for outsiders to see the gap between internal and external Kung Fu. What’s even more interesting is that two Tai Chi masters were performing push hands. Unexpectedly, a fat giant panda who didn’t like to exercise broke into the practice and wanted to compete with the masters. The clumsy attacks of the panda brothers were always defused by their master, and they made a lot of fools of themselves, causing laughter. The audience also realized the true meaning of Tai Chi for health and fitness through laughter. What is even more amazing is the hard qigong performance. This kind of kung fu, such as breaking an iron plate with one's head, breaking a stick all over the body, and piercing glass with a needle, is rarely seen outside of television. But fortunately, the audience present all experienced the true Kungfu of Chinese Shaolin from the force and power of the iron plate breaking and the stick breaking. Although the needle-piercing-glass performance left a beautiful gap, American audiences who love guns also gained a little benefit: if a needle can break glass, what's the use of a gun? What’s also fascinating about this program is that the director ingeniously introduced the Chinese culture of music, chess, calligraphy and painting to American audiences through martial arts. For example, "Zheng Yun Sword Dance" was originally an elegant solo performance on the piano table. Although there are moments of excitement and excitement, it is always about a scholar, and it is an empty and tragic scene. But as soon as the rustling sword came, the admirable general spirit of "looking at the sword while drunk and blowing the trumpet in the dream" was immediately revealed. For a while, the music was no longer a cappella, and the sword also gained a martial charm. The audience in the audience gained more worship and admiration for Chinese culture. Another example is that Chinese calligraphy is shown to the public. Although it has an open-minded, confident attitude and a flying and flying momentum, for Americans, calligraphy is a sacred book and it is difficult to enter the country. But as soon as Yang Style Tai Chi entered the context of the calligraphy scene, calligraphy and boxing took on different colors. The two groups of heroes took different shots and jointly interpreted the Chinese culture from their own perspectives, "from hardness to softness, from strength to slowness" and the Tai Chi realm of integrating movement and stillness. You may just applaud blankly in admiration at first, but later it turns into nodding from the bottom of your heart. There are also eighteen kinds of weapons from China. Even if you are from China, you may not be able to explain the various clanking weapons. But the director of the show has such ingenuity and childlike innocence. After the hearty flashes of swords and swords, all the masters show their chivalrous tenderness and teach every American child on stage a martial arts look. A small interaction added fun and knowledge, and the spirit of Chinese martial arts blended silently into the happy crowd. It is worth mentioning that the elegant female host may not be good at any of the weapon techniques, but her loving words, just the right introduction and connection, immediately turned the timid children on stage into little martial arts stars with swords and horses, leading to joyful interactions on and off the stage. This unique program would not be complete without that cluster of green branches. After the dazzling rapid attack and defense of Shaolin collective boxing and Chen style Tai Chi, and the shocking performance of "The Grand Glory" where heroes from all walks of life gathered together, the program's planning and director Zhao Shuping, Zhao Junming and Shao lin temple culture center Arizona's coach Shi Yanqing took a group photo with all the actors on stage, said goodbye to the audience, and thanked the local old overseas Chinese who provided guzheng performances and calligraphy demonstrations for the party, as well as the Chinese groups who provided food for the audience. Although the curtain of the party was slowly drawn, Tucson, a martial arts event focusing on kung fu, was deeply imprinted in the hearts of all the audience. She will definitely bring new hope to the Arizona martial arts spring like the first spring breeze.