South San Francisco Centennial

During most of the Spring Break our Team members were getting ready for upcoming performances and for the 16trh Annual CMAT at UC Berkeley.  Wednesday Jared showed up with Ryan.....and Ryan (Jared's Bro), Elissa and Pam........they are part of the Opening Ceremony for CMAT.........they will be part of the Lion Awakening Ceremony Performance.  New lions cannot be danced until they are properly blessed and protected from bad influences....the lion must be "dotted" with chicken blood by an important dignitary...he will impart his Qi and good fortune to your lion.  So they were practicing the routine....which will eventually involve 3 new Lions.   Ryan A.  looked really good...his dancing is improving rapidly........his stacking looking more and more natural and comfortable, and his lion personality starting to show....good job!  Elissa and Pam found out that stacking without a Lion's Head is easy.......but when you are holding a Lion it's much more difficult......your balance and timing just have to be so much more precise.  In the background looking on was Kevan.....who this year did his first Lion Dance...............he was preparing for CMAT.  Kevan also worked with Ryan A,.....on their two man sparring set for the SSF Centennial Celebration.  Later on, Jared tested their knowledge of lion dance puzzles........what do you do if you find a chair on it's side with a spear  resting on top pointing at the lettuce?  Your answer must tell a story and you must use all the items provided to get the lettuce.  There are hundreds of these puzzles...and in the old days the elders in the community regularly set out puzzles for the lion to solve......it was a test to see who could give the best solution and thereby was the best team present....and would then be invited to dance.  Sadly, this is becoming a lost art......many lion dancers nowadays have never seen any of these puzzles, everyone is into doing posts  and jumps with acrobatic maneuvers.......sounds like contemporary Wushu...haha.....

Friday night I got to play the Buddha again as Ryan A. and I joined up with Corey and the Kei Lun Lion Dancers to dedicate some new offices downtown in San Francisco.  It was a great party....lots of food........and drinks too!!

Finally, Saturday arrived...after morning class we attended a memorial for one of my Taiji Students....William Ping Lee......he will be missed as he touched many people's lives.  He was a healer of Shiatsu, loved Taiji.....and people, he was blunt and to the point never minced or sugar coated his words.  He found out that that was the way of the Hawaiian People.....to speak their mind....so for the rest of his life he became an adopted Hawaiian son!  He not only had the hands of a healer but was a teacher as well..and trained many students in the Art of Shiatsu massage.  He was always about community............the memorial reflected all these aspects of his life and there were many funny testimonies by his friends.....he will not be forgotten but will always be in our hearts.

After the Memorial it was off to South San Francisco for their Centennial Celebration....the event was held at the Municipal Building......and the program reflected the diversity of San Francisco....there were Hawaiian Dancers, Japanese Dancers, Filipino Dancers, Hip Hop, Irish Performers, and we represented the Chinese Culture.  While we were missing most of our Wushu performers............the performance went very well......thanks to Dale and Ben for showing up at the last minute to perform...............even so I still had to dust off my nine section whip to do a few moves........I haven't actually performed it in 5or 6 years.............not bad for an  old wushu player............though no ground techniques for me...that's for you young guys!!  The highlight of the night though turned out to be Kevan and Ryan's Sparring set.........which was going great until Kevan lost his shoe......but he continued.......slid across the room to fall over Ryan....then picked up his shoe and used it as a weapon..........a good wushu player should be able to pick up anything and use it!!!!  Yep, this was quite a week.........but next week will be CMAT....don't miss it...........should be another exciting week!!  Peace and enjoy the rest of your break!