Performing Arts Series: Shaolin Warriors demonstrate 'stillness in movement'
Johnson County Community College
Press Release
College Information and Publications
913-469-8500
Julie Haas, Associate Vice President, Marketing Communications, ext. 3120
Peggy Graham, Writer, ext. 3425
Tyler Cundith, Sports Information Director, ext. 3122
10/06/09
Story by Peggy Graham
Shaolin Warriors demonstrate “stillness in movement”
|
|||
|
|||
|
The Shaolin Warriors will bring the remarkable skill, stunning movement and spectacular imagery of Kung Fu to the Performing Arts Series of Johnson County Community College at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Nov. 20-21, in Yardley Hall of the Carlsen Center. More than a martial arts exhibition, this performance is a fully choreographed theatrical production.
Performed by disciples of the Shaolin schools, known throughout the world for their disciplined and deadly martial-arts prowess, these Kung Fu masters have trained from a very young age in mental and physical disciplines, allowing them to perform feats once thought only possible in the movies. The production features many forms of Shaolin Kung Fu as well as a look at the daily life of the warriors and their Zen philosophy. Painted backdrops show the temple and its surroundings. The show has a narrative, but much like the plot of an old Kung Fu movie, plot is secondary to the action.
The Shaolin monks from a very young age train in martial arts for several hours each day, perfecting the art of hand-to-hand and weapons combat. There are more than 20 weapons used by the Shaolin monks — the common axe, cudgel, spear, halberd, sword, three-section staff, dart, dagger, broadsword, tiger hooks and others. In addition to the employment of these weapons, virtually any common object can be utilized in combat by a Shaolin monk.
Though it is hard to reconcile throwing blades and spears with Buddhism’s philosophy of nonviolence, it would be incorrect to interpret demonstrations of Shaolin fighting techniques as acts of aggression. The Shaolin fight mostly in silence exhibiting “stillness in movement,” a stillness resulting from a serene mind, cultivated through the practice of meditation.
Ta Mo, a Buddhist monk from India, arrived at the base of Mount Shaoshi in central China in 535 A.D. and founded the Shaolin monastery. Recognizing the need to protect themselves at a time of battle-torn feudal China, the early Shaolin monks embarked on a process to develop a system of defense by meditating on the attack and defense movements of animals that lived near their monastery. The Shaolin monks called their system “wushu.”
After 1,500 years, the monks of Shaolin are still held in great reverence for an art that is half mental, half physical.
Martial arts students are encouraged to wear their martial arts clothing.
Tickets for Shaolin Warriors are $40 and $30, available by calling the Performing Arts Series box office at 913-469-4445 or online at www.jccc.edu/TheSeries.
###