Watchful Dragon, Chu Sau Lei Wing Chun - Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Friendship Seminar: Victoria 1998

The first Friendship Seminar, held in Victoria, B.C., from May 21-23, started off on Friday night and Marty Goldberg set the tone with his painfully classic line: "I just flew in from Wisconsin, and boy are my bong sao tired!" When the groaning died-down, we mingled for a short while and got to know each other. A special treat was finally meeting face-to-face with people like Dan Lucas (webmaster of Wing Chun World), whom we've known via the internet for a long time and Benny Meng from the Ving Tsun Museum. Following this, Ray Van Raamsdonk gave a rundown of how the seminar would work, with each presenter doing 2-hour blocks on both Saturday and Sunday, with time for short breaks in between and free, friendly play at the end.

Saturday began with demonstrations of the different versions of siu nim/lien tao and overviews of forms like chum kiu and the Cheung lineage advanced siu nim tao. Several guests also joined the spirit of sharing, with Dan showing the Jiu Wan siu nim tao, Benny going over the Moy Yat version, and Bob Stevens explaining a harder-edged Leung Sheung version. Ray then began the first section with the Wang Kiu live dummy. The next section saw Marty demonstrate the basic concepts of the William Cheung stepping methods and chum kiu form. After a lunch break, generously organized by Ray's students and including videos brought by several attendees, Rene Ritchie completed the first day's seminar with the 4 basic sets of the Sum Nung system. After a short break, the rest of the day was spent in rounds of friendly chi sao. That night, the hungry seminar horde descended on a local Chinese restaurant for great feast and more chit-chat.

On Sunday, Ray started things off with the Wang Kiu baat jaam do form and two-person set. Similarites in method helped Marty break ground with his next section on footwork and on limb destruction. Rene wrapped things up with the next 4 sets of the Sum Nung system. Following this, Benny, Bob and others went over the chi sao training common to their lineages. At the end, after saying goodbyes to new friends and old, everyone headed for their cars, boats, and planes, and back to regular life (until the next time, at least!)

"Thank you for giving the Wing Chun community such a wonderful event as the Friendship Seminar. It was gratifying to meet with various, different families of Wing Chun to freely share what we know about this great art. The attitude, openness, energy, and your hospitality to all of us were very impressive. I was particularly impressed with the information shared."- Benny

"I like it. I enjoyed the whole seminar. True to the theme "Friendship and Free Exchange of Imformation", it was a success. The instructors and organizers are to be congratulated. The seminar had attracted a greater variety of attendants. Most of them seemed to have come with the intention of comparing notes in a friendly atmosphere. That was great. I enjoyed meeting these friends, new and old. At present, I do not have any thing to suggest to improve the format of the seminar; it is quite good as is. It is worthwhile repeating. There were certainly many varieties of styles presented, but they did hit home the message 'It is all Wing Chun'." - James

"I really enjoyed the Seminar .... I found it to be true to it's intent FRIENDSHIP Seminar. I learnt different things about the ART but mainly what I liked was the openness or willingness to share training methods, their take on Chi Sau. I have no thoughts on how to improve it .... I like the format. Maybe a little longer on the Chi Sau Part ..because for me that is were I got the most information from. I learnt how to deal with different forces ... different rolling technic etc. Everyone was willing to help you if you were having problems dealing with their attack in chi sau ... I never felt that it was a competition. All in all I thought it was great and I would go again in a blink of an eye!!!!" - Michael

"I experienced a lot, absorbed only a speck of it and hopefully over the months and years I will be able to apply some of what I learned. It was a privilage to take part in this event and I enjoyed the seminar very much. I would be interested in attending another such seminar if circumstances permit." - Jim

"Thanks for the opportunity; the seminar opened my eyes to many new and interesting people, techniques, and applications. I hope that there will be other seminars."- John