INTERNATIONAL TAI-CHI FESTIVAL AT LALITA 2004 (Acebo, Caceres, Spain)

The 8th edition of this “classical” festival was hold from the 3rd to the 5th of September. World-around tai chi chuan masters and students get together to offer and participate in workshops dealing with the more diverse aspects of this wonderful art. These meetings are exceptional opportunities to get to know the different working methods, styles, concepts and points of view that each master has.

The history of this festival dates back to 1995, when a group of friends had the idea to gather together masters from different styles to share their knowledge and learn from them. This initiative has gradually develop into a serious and continuous event, where first category masters from all over the world gather. Behind this initiative there is no lucrative interest, just to offer an overview of the variety of styles and masters on tai chi chuan (actually, for the first time this year the festival has covered expenses).

This time the masters who attended the meeting were:

Jean Luc Perot (Belgium)

Simon Carey-Morgan (United Kingdom)

Nathan J. Managed (USA)

Philipp Domnick (Germany)

Eva Koskuba (United Kingdom)

Zhang Xiu Mu (China, but presently living in Spain)

THE LOCATION

Lalita (name of an Indian goddess) is a centre for creative activities located in the Sierra of Gata (Extremadura, Spain), close to the border with Portugal. Several buildings compose the place. The dormitory has space for 40 people, either in single, double or shared rooms. Other significant buildings are the dining room, the temple, the library and the “Circle”, a 200 square meter room. Both in the buildings as well as in just the little details, one easily notices the creativity and fantasy of its designers. It is a surprising place that cheers up our hearts, because a sort of symbiosis between the buildings and nature appears, likely because the buildings stem from that place in the human nature where a connection with the “Dao” is established.

PICTURES: Dormitory building, two different views.

THE PEOPLE

At the end I left the place without meeting the ¿owner? or “designers” of such a place. Apparently they were in there but because the relationship between all people attending the festival was always from equal to equal, they managed to become inconspicuous. In Lalita a variety of people from different condition and culture without any trouble shared their time: the fire woman, a leather craftsman, jugglers, music composers, a classic guitar player, and of course, many masters (or instructors) of tai chi chuan, qi gong, shiatsu, and maybe even some business men that I did not notice. These different sources did not matter at all: good and nice people and instructors, as well as regarding to the organizers, under the supervision of Enrique Alario.

The only regret one could bring up, which was an obvious consequence of the quality and quantity of teaching, was that it was not always possible to attend all the workshops one would have liked. But the flexibility of the event, as it must be when dealing with tai chi, helped to overcome any trouble.

A very good thing of the event was that the instructors mixed very much with the students, ate with them, lived with them. Once the classes were finished, there were no “professors and students” anymore, although of course tai chi was always present and people talked and asked about it. The instructors attended the workshop of the other instructors, with no vanity nor fear. All human, all good, all imperfect. Well, maybe I am idealizing a bit, but that was my feeling.

THE ACTIVITIES

Besides tai chi, every afternoon we had a workshop on massage (I still have to find out the name of the woman who provided us with such a pleasant time). Friday night was entertained by a classic guitar concert.

Saturday after lunch (and the corresponding nap), some of the masters offered us with an exhibition of their styles. Zhang, with some music on, performed Zhao Bao. Nathan started with Liu He Ba Fa, and Simon did Ba gua and also a stick routine (but using a plain stick, not the typical one used in martial arts). Eva performed on Chen style, and Jean Luc, with his loose sandals, performed a Yang style secret routine. Philipp was modest and did not perform, fact which makes me think he must be quite good at it, although first thought would be to think the opposite. All of them displayed part of their art, and I say only "part” because the quality of the floor did not allow for an optimal performance... but as we were among friends, what mattered was the exhibition, not perfection.

That night we enjoyed a party with direct music and drums, dancing and dancing... Suddenly, the "fire woman" performed her dance - by the way, applying without noticing the fundamentals of "bei si kou" that Zhang had told us before!.

Everyday, in the early afternoon, the all of us, both masters and students, practiced tui-shou together, sharing out and having fun.

PICTURES. Enrique Alario and Zhang at Philipp's workshop. Zhang playing to push Jean Luc.

THE WORKSHOPS

I did not have a chance to attend Simon’s workshop, because it was coincident with Zhang’s, and I was his translator. For that reason I have no pictures of it, and I cannot tell much about it, except that being consequent with the applauses and the enthusiasm showed by people who attended it, Simon’s workshop was very successful.

I saw some parts of Nathan’s workshop on sword, and I must say that Zhang was pleasantly surprised of how “westerners were doing so deep research into all aspects of tai chi chuan”.

About Eva’s workshop, I sneaked it from time to time and saw how people reeled in pairs, like silk… a very useful practice for tui shou, for instance. Eva knows how to find a “dead” point from where it is very difficult to get away from her.

Jean Luc is funny. He knows how to teach the fundamentals in a progressive and playful way, moving from the game to the martial application. Either practicing alone or in pairs, his simple and easy-going explanations led us to work and assimilate on concepts like yin-yang, opening-closing, fullness-emptiness.

Phillip told us how to make that “500 kg do not move 4 g.” He made easy to understand the knacks not to be unrooted, and how to redirect the opponent’s force without using ours(last day he exemplified this with some sticks).

Zhang lectured on the origins of the fundamentals of tai-chi and where they can be found in the routine movements, as well as on some aspects of nei-gong.

NOTE: I had with me a brand-new videocamera, that Zhang brought from China, which can also take still pictures. My inexperience with it together with my lack of timing for taking the photos at the right moment explain why I usually failed to take the best and more interesting pictures. I must say that the quality of the teaching in the workshops was much higher that what my pictures show!