|
|
|
This page holds details of what activities Lu Yan was involved in during 2008.
Reviews given by her students of her teaching are also presented here. Other
pieces of news that are related to her, the Beijing Wushu team or about Wushu in
general that may be of interest to the reader are also presented or linked to
here.
Note that on older pieces of news the links to external websites may now be
redundant.
|
|
It’s been almost 18 months since the guys from Canada East Wushu were over last, and they felt that was quite long enough.
So this month we welcomed back Andrew and Josh for two weeks of training.
 Josh
has been training Nanquan for a number of years, and has also trained with Lu Yan before when she went across to Halifax in 2005.
Josh has a very powerful build so he wanted to train something that would suit his frame, and that he would utilise his existing skills.
Lu Yan suggested the Da Dao (Kwandao) as historically that was a fearsome weapon used by those on horseback to cut down opponents, and
those on the ground to chop the legs off horses… so a pretty serious weapon!
Lu Yan taught Josh a more traditional form but with a modern twist to it, so that it had plenty of useful applications but also had
some competition flair too. Josh hadn’t had much experience with long weapons like staff before, but he learned the Da Dao very quickly
and persevered with the trickier moves so that by the end of the two weeks he was able to competently perform the set.
With more practice,
Lu Yan is certain that Josh will go from strength to strength, and the more intricate flowering moves will become second nature.
 This
year Andrew wanted to learn something different from what he usually trains. Andrew is a very proficient Fanziquan athlete, having
trained with several very famous instructors here in Beijing as well as Lu Yan. In fact Andrew taught the Fanzi set that Lu Yan taught
him to one of his students, who then went on to win a Gold Medal in competition performing that set.
This year however Andrew wanted to learn some Preying Mantis.
Mantis is a long range boxing style that requires a lot of speed like Fanzi, but has a very different flavour. Andrew trained hard
everyday and picked up a long set in a very short space of time.
There are a lot of unique moves to Mantis and Andrew worked diligently in
order to ensure that he could execute each of them cleanly.
Lu Yan is always really pleased to see the guys from Canada East Wushu come over, as they always train hard and persist until they are
able to perform the set well. This is a very important lesson for short term students to understand, as when you only have a couple of
weeks here training you need to work hard to remember all the details that Lu Yan explains. That way, when you head back home, you won’t
forget what you learned here in Beijing.
|
|
This month Hao Zhihua came over to Beijing for a brief visit and Lu Yan managed to meet up with her for a chat
and yet another Beijing Wushu team get together. Tang Laiwei was also over from Australia, having brought a
group over to train with Wu Bin for a short stretch.
Not everyone was able to make it out for the same day so eventually Wu Bin, and ex Beijing Wushu Team members
Hao Zhihua and Li Zhizhou met up with Lu Yan for a quick meal and chat.
|
|
Hopefully Hao Zhihua will be over again soon, as Lu Yan always enjoys catching up with her former team mates.
 This
month was also the Beijing Wushu Institute’s city competition. This is open to anyone who trains in Beijing
and is a member of one of the affiliated organisations.
It just so happened that I am affiliated to the Beijing Chuojiao
Fanziquan association so I decided to go along and compete too. I have been training with Wang Heling, the current
president of the association, for just over a year now. Lu Yan helped me improve my form so that when I performed
it I would have an edge over the competition.
Well, her tweaks worked, as I won the Fanziquan section.
|
|
 Lu Yan really enjoys teaching children Wushu.
She knows that if you can teach children good basics when they are young
then these lessons will stay with them forever. We were hence especially fortunate that this month Lu Yan was able to
teach Daylan from Canada for a few lessons.
Daylan has been training for a few years already and already has some good skills. He knows all the stances and kicks, but his moves were just
lacking that final touch that makes the distinction between a good Wushu practitioner and a great one.
Lu Yan helped Daylan with his Changquan, Dao and Gun taolu’s, mostly concentrating on the rhythm of the forms. She ensured that Daylan
paused in the right places and that fast moves were indeed fast. She encouraged Daylan to use power in his punches and kicks, also emphasising
that each move had to have intention, which is very important in Wushu performances.
Daylan's Dad had the following to say about Lu Yan's teaching:
"Daylan thoroughly enjoyed training with Lu Yan. She strikes a very admirable balance between pushing Daylan to do better while at the
same time keeping the training positive. Our only regret is that we couldn't stay in Beijing longer to do more training. Lu Yan really
brought a lot more definition to Daylan's forms. It is so great that a person of her calibre has such a genuine interest in working with children at a basic level."
A few days after returning to Canada Daylan attended a provincial Wushu competition where he managed to take the Gold in his Dao and Silver in Changquan –
so it looks like the training paid off! Lu Yan would like to extend her heartfelt congratulations to Daylan and wish him every success for his ongoing Wushu training.
|
|
|
This month we had some unfortunate news. One of Lu Yan’s old team mates, Wang Qun, passed away at the age of only 48. He was a member
of the Beijing Wushu team for several years. Lu Yan went to his funeral where she met up with several of her old team mates.
Jet Li’s elder brother also went along and he invited everyone to get together again in a few days time. Lu Yan went along and met up
with several people she hadn’t seen for a long time, including Li Zhizhou, who is now back in Beijing.
Wu Bin also organised a meal for all the old Beijing Wushu team members and there was a big turn out – probably about 50 team members
and their families went along. Wu Bin was really pleased with how the event ran and so there was talk of this happening again in Summer,
when overseas members of the Beijing Wushu team will be Beijing again.
I do have some pictures of both these gatherings but they are just awful (all out of focus – never buy a Sony camera) so I haven’t
posted them I’m afraid. If I get some better ones then I will post them up.
|
Want to learn more about Wushu? Visit the
Articles pages
Want to learn more about Lu Yan's Coaching Career? Visit the
Coaching Career pages
Want to learn more about training with Lu Yan? Visit the
Train with Lu Yan pages
|
|
