At 11:44 AM 11/11/2004, Lorene wrote:
>Do I think that dance hinders me in learning gung fu? Hah. This is tough.
>The way I `feel my dance' is distracting from my ability to start fresh in
>gung fu I guess. I crave the ability to `get it' the way I get my dancing,
>but I am not there yet. That's frustrating.

I still feel that way sometimes (i.e. every time Mr. Joe comes to town and
makes this stuff look so easy). :)

>I am certainly only a beginner in gung fu.

That's all relative, I guess. Compared to many people here, I'm barely a
beginner myself, but not compared to the general public, or even the
"average martial artist" (whatever that might mean). People with a good
understanding of movement (dancers, martial artists, athletes, etc) tend to
move past what I'd generally consider the "true beginner" phase pretty
quickly, when they put some effort into it.

>Martial artists move with different purpose than dancers do. I can't say I
>want to ever be in a position to have to use gung fu. Every movement is an
>attack on another being. Why would I want to learn to do that? Well, I
>don't want to attack anyone. I'd certainly like to be able to defend
>myself, and yet that alone is not why I do gung fu.

Every movement (in application) is meant to be harmful to another being,
but "attack" brings terms like "unprovoked" or "initiated" to my mind, and
that's definitely not applicable.

The self defense aspect of the arts isn't why I study them, either, but I
honestly couldn't give you a good "reason" for my training. It just seems
like an essential part of me now.

>With technique, you learn how to use your body in specific situations. You
>study movement with specific intent. I want to learn more about the
>internal aspect of gung fu.

The internal aspect of the arts aren't without technique, either. :)

>*Gung fu has captured my spirit.* I really enjoy the growing bond with my
>classmates (and miss it being in Boston and away from the school). I like
>pushing myself to be stronger. I like doing the technique well. There is
>so much. I'm just seeing where it goes from here. Whew. Hope that
>addresses your question. I'm still trying to understand this.

I think it does. I wasn't looking for any specific answer, just your
thoughts on the matter. My own experience seems to kind of go against
"conventional wisdom" in the matter - I find people with previous training
to be easier to teach, so long as they put in an honest effort to learn
what I show them, instead of trying to fit it into some previous
paradigm. But I think that may reflect more on my instruction style than
anything else.

It's good to see that you're still motivated while away from the school. I
know that's been one of the most difficult things since I left Rochester -
not so much keeping mentally motivated (i.e. I think about it a lot, and it
still excites me) as forcing myself to make time to train regularly.

Erik Harris silatlist@...
AIM: KngFuJoe http://www.eharrishome.com ICQ: 2610172
Chinese-Indonesian MA Club http://cimac.eharrishome.com/