Attention! We are returning to our favourite island — Střelecký ostrov
15–17 September 2023
Gradually, we will add and update it.
Workshops | Practice in pairs | Gala-evening | |
---|---|---|---|
Friday | 10:00–12:30 | 14:30–17:00 | |
Saturday | 10:00–12:30 | 14:30–18:00 | 19:15-… |
Sunday | 10:00–12:30 | 14:30–17:00 |
- Workshops – Experienced teachers will present their methods of work in Tai Chi Chuan and push hands.
- Practice in pairs – Participants will individually agree on how they want to practice in pairs. They will practice in 10-minute rounds. Participants will agree on the type of practice (free push hands vs. form push hands, with steps vs. without steps). The level is always adjusted to the practitioner with less experience.
- Gala-evening – Space for presentations of styles, schools and forms as well as a friendly meeting.
Teachers
Giles Rosbander
Biography:
Giles Rosbander comes from England but lives in Germany. With a background in dance theatre performance and teaching, he started learning Tai Chi Chuan from Wilhelm Mertens in Hamburg in 1996. Following this, he trained with Nigel Sutton and several Malaysian teachers, including Lau Kim Hong, in the Zhong Ding Association (Cheng Man Ching style); with Ömer Humbaraci in Hamburg (Shayuquan style); and then for some years with Fernando Chedel (Ma Tsun Kuen style). He has gained further input through encounters with many other practitioners; he highlights several seminars with Dr. Tao Ping Siang as a particular inspiration. He has cross-trained in other martial arts and sports such as MMA, Aikido, Bagua Zhang, Wing Chun, and Systema.
He has also learned and practiced craniosacral therapy and massage and is a professional translator.
He has taught many workshops and seminars in Germany and Europe and has his own Tai Chi Chuan school in Berlin. He also co-operates closely with his training partner Martin Neumann, giving joint seminars under the title “TuiShou Stereo”.
Topic:
Discovering the Circles, Surfing the Circles
If we can sense and connect with the many circles, big and small, that appear in (free) push hands, then we can start to neutralize, borrow energy and return it in a single movement. Many possibilities now open up: things start to become more effortless, more effective, more creative and also more fun. So instead of working hard and looking for solutions, we can begin to ‘surf the waves’ and let them work for us.
We can see this as an embodiment of wu wei.
The principle of the flowing circles in push hands can also be translated to Tai Chi applications and self-defence.
Important: for the circles to work well, we need a good body alignment with a clear connection from sky to earth/earth to sky. So we will also work a little on bringing the spine to vertical; this supports the infinity of circles.
Links:
Roland von Loefen
Biography: Roland started his Taijiquan practice in 1988 with Helmut Bauer, Barbara Schmid-Neuhaus and Toyo Kobayashi in the tradition of Cheng Man Ching. In 1998, Roland met master Yek Sing Ong and his current teacher Wee Kee Jin. Through long intensive training he eventually became a certified Instructor and Teacher of Wee Kee Jin’s “Taijiquan School of Central Equilibrium”. In 2013 he founded and organized the 1st international push-hands meeting in Haßfurt am Main.
Topic: We want to work on yielding, and pushing with a relaxed force. If you can yield, you have the ability to neutralize the opponent’s force. Our exercises are fixed push hands and semi-free push hands. The advantage of Semi-free Pushing Hands is, that you can learn to listen and sense how your partner behaves. Winning is only secondary as you change roles after 5 minutes.
We are using 3 different stances for this kind of pushing hands.
Yielding, yielding: An important sentence from the classics.
Seek the straight in the curve, first store then discharge!
Links:
Tomasz (Thomas) Nowakowski
Biography:
Tomasz (Thomas) Nowakowski living in London, visual and martial artist. He has studied different martial arts since 1966 and has been teaching T’ai Chi Ch’uan and Qi Gong since 1982. During the last 30 years, Thomas has taught Tai Chi Chuan and Qi Gong in many countries: Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Taiwan and the United Kingdom. He has led workshops at his own school as well as for different companies, and cultural and educational institutions. Thomas was a judge at the Open National Championship of Taiwan in 2004. He is a co-founder of The Centre of Taoist Arts Golden Hill (Zlaty Kopec) in Prague, the International Push Hands Meeting in Prague and founder of Tai Chi Art Centre London. In 1990 he met his current teacher Dr Ming Wong C.Y. and studied his family style Tai Chi, Tai Ki Kung San Fung and some techniques and theories of Chinese medicine. Thomas is the author of “Shapes of Balance” system (structured development of perception).
Topic:
“When you understand a technique, you know a technique. When you understand a concept, you know a thousand techniques.”
Understanding a concept is the core of my Shapes of Balance teaching system.
The topic of my workshop will be practical research of a concept of Chang San Feng 13th Fundamental Forms Tai Chi in individual forms and their applications with partners in Tuishou (Pushing Hands). Based on the comparison examples from San Feng and Yang styles. We will be working with timing, coordination, the balance of structure and awareness of movements in action with partners.
Links:
- Centre of Taoist Arts Golden Hill (home page)
- Tai Ki Kung