MARTIAL ARTS FOR ADULTS & CHILDREN, NEW YORK
MARTIAL ARTS FOR ADULTS & CHILDREN, NEW YORK
Are you ready to try something new this Spring? Join us at North SKy Kung Fu for the traditional Kung Fu experience. We help your body and mind work together for better fitness, awareness, and balance - on every level. In this challenging time, it's important to stay centered. Kung Fu can help.
Sifu Julie invited a guest to join us on March 30th for a very special look at Tai Chi push hands. North Sky Kung Fu's guest, Inoshi, brought his over 20 years of experience to our group. After some interesting warm-ups we worked out way up to a real "playing push hands" experience. It was a terrific hour and half and we enjoyed it so much we planned to do it again next month! If you're interested, join us (send a message or give us a call.)
The instructors and students are excited about our new space on 29th Street. First of all, it's...quiet. New York City can be wonderfully exciting, but when you are practicing Tai Chi and Kung Fu, sometimes you just want to focus. 29th Street is calm and relatively quiet. The new space is bigger, brighter, with higher ceilings, which makes a difference when it comes to long weapons. We have a second studio, for private lessons. We're still decorating and we'll have our logo up soon. But classes are on, and we look forward to a great 2025. Sifu Julie and Sifu Dario wish you the same!
We went to Maryland on July 12 to July 14th to participate in the "International Kuo Shu Tournament." We had a terrific time, won some medals, and saw many old friends and acquaintances. What a great tournament -- super judges, good competitors, and a real variety of kung fu styles. There was also Tai Chi, and other internal styles, and lots of fighting including "Lei Tai". We'll definitely be back next year, and we thank the students who took a chance and joined us.
Our students Sam (shown here) and Max took their black sash test, capping years of dedication and practice. It was a difficult exam that included everything from partner weapons forms to 108 locks to "Lin Kuen", a classic Ying Jow Pai form. They were excellent, and they showed us their absolute best. We congratulate them, along with the other students (like Christophe, shown here) who challenged themselves, and took their sash tests this June. It isn't easy but there's nothing more rewarding.
We're proud of our students who recently took their sash test. We congratulate students Anke, Temes, and Quincy who advanced this season to a new level. All of them were focused on their goal, and worked hard, especially in the weeks before their sash test. Their dedication to Eagle Claw is impressive, especially for the young Eagles.
The Year of the Dragon is around the corner. We're getting ready for a Chinese New Year demonstration, and are inviting friends and family to join us on February 17th. Please contact us if you'd like to learn more. We'll be showing you some of our more intriguing forms from both kung fu and Tai Chi, and performing techniques. We look forward to introducing our guests to one of the world's most beautiful kung fu systems. More information soon, but save the date!
Working on Push Hands
We had an exciting and challenging weekend at the ICMAC tournament in Orlando last weekend. We'll add more photos soon but here's a picture of our group as we get ready to enter the hall. Our students competed in the empty-hand form and weapons categories, as well as in Tai Chi, with two students doing continuous sparring. We came home with several medals, after a long day of waiting and watching. What a great experience! It was genuinely a rich snapshot of the world of Chinese martial arts, with so many unique and unusual styles. From "Lost Track" (Mizong) To "White Ape" (Tongbei).
We are in full swing now getting ready for the ICMAC Championship in Orlando Florida. We have 7 competitors heading to Florida so far, and we're ramping up our practice now. The tournament will be from June 30th -July 2nd, 2023. One of the highlights of May 2023 was a visit from Eagle Claw Grandmaster Leung Shum, seen here posing with students.
Note, we're planning for the summer now, so if you've been thinking about trying Kung Fu, now is a great time to start. We'll be updating our schedule as people leave for vacation with more opportunity to private and semi-private classes.
We had a wonderful evening with our Sifu, Grandmaster Leung Shum, last Saturday down at the Golden Unicorn in Chinatown. Over a hundred of his students, family, and friends gathered for the event. It was a great evening and Sifu Dario and Sifu Julie were glad to to see our extended Ying Jow Pai family.
UPDATE: We had a great visit last weekend, from our teacher's teacher – Grandmaster Leung Shum. What a great experience for our students who got to have the father of Eagle Claw in the US watch them practice.
Some of our members joined us for dinner in a nearby Chinese restuarant to celebrate the Year of the Rabbit. We had a great evening, and it was good to spend some time with our Eagle Claw practitioners. We had great Chinese food and dumplings. Hopefully next year we can have a demo and lion dance along with our banquet!
We had a great class on Sunday. When people attend our Sunday self defense class regularly, we can really get into details, like how top work with vulnerable points on the body. We also practiced combining techniques, because once you start, you have to be ready to continue! Our self-defense class meets every Sunday at 1:30. Of course, we also work on self defense in our regular weekday kung fu classes.
Hannah, David, Nathanial and Quincy worked hard and earned their yellow sashes and white sash respectively (shown above) in Eagle Claw Kung Fu. They brought an impressive display of skill and power to their performance, given that they're beginners. Kids today! And right above, Sifu Julie and Sifu Dario are showing off some weapons gifted to them recently by a Sifu leaving town. They promise to give the staffs, rope darts, nun-chucks and tiger hooks a good home.
It looks like New Yorkers are ready for Kung Fu, as students old and young return to class, and new people join us. It's been a great September so far, and in October we'll be adding some new offerings. First, we now have a group of teens on their way to an advanced level. We're introducing a black belt club for them where they can focus on higher level challenges. We're also adding a Fight Conditioning Class in October which will offer a serious training and fitness workout for martial artists of all stripes. We are also working on a new self defense program. Stay in touch by joining our mailing list, and we'll keep you in the loop. (Email us at info@northskykungfu.com)
We're pleased to see students returning to our evening classes. Our classes are "Family Style" --- meaning all levels work together on basics and warmup, then break out to work on techniques at their level.
Recently, we've been working on self-defense techniques and practical application of our unique style. Try one of our evening classes, and if you want to build up some stamina, fitness, and basics, call us about private classes or daytime classes.
Whether it's because of pressure and anxiety in the world, or an effort to get healthy as Spring arrives, we notice there's a growing interest in Tai Chi. In response, we're adding an evening class, Wednesday at 6:15. We offer several options now, both online and in the studio - take a look at our schedule. With our more advanced Tuesday class, we are working on Tai Chi Sword, a beautiful -- and challenging --form. Give us a call if you would like to start a journey into Tai Chi.
Here's our latest video, to promote our newest Monday 6pm class.