Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Todays Women of Tomorrow


Inside Kung-Fu
“Today’s Women of Tomorrow”
November 2005
By Dave Cater
Pg 42

Different backgrounds, different styles, different talents inexorable linked by their love of martial arts.

CHRIS YEN
Martial Artist/Actor
For most of her young life, Chris Yen has been known as either: “the younger sister of;” or “the daughter of.” Now there’s nothing wrong with begin associated with two of the world’s top martial arts names - in this case martial artist/actor extraordinaire Donnie Yen or wushu wonder Bow Sim Mark. Most stylists would give their black sash just for a chance to claim such a pedigree.
But when you live it every day of your life, the comparisons are bound to get old - and quick. Chris Yen struggled mightily to find her own identity. It wasn’t easy.
“I trained with that sort of pressure from the time I was real young,” Yen explains. “The pressure came from my mother and from my father, and from my brother who started young. The pressure was always there.”
Describing herself as “rebellious,” Yen yearned for a chance to carve her own niche in the world. That chance came two years ago when she moved to Hollywood and attended her first audition.
“I realized I loved going out to auditions. I loved going to my acting classes. I loved the fact that I can express myself in another forum other than doing martial arts.”
Her love for acting, her desire to express herself in new and different ways, is paying big dividends. Her first major project, Adventures of Johnny Tao, is due out soon and by all indications it could be the rocket that catapults Chris Yen to stardom.

CHRISTINE BANNON-RODRIGUES
Martial Artist/Actress/Spokesperson
Christine Bannon-Rodrigues has parlayed a tremendous career as a open circuit competitor into an equally impressive life as a school owner and spokesperson. Bannon-Rodrigues, vice president and co-owner of Don Rodrigues Karate Academy, Ltd., is also a spokesperson, product designer and product evaluator for Macho Products, Inc.
With more than 40 martial arts magazine covers to her credit and nine WAKO World titles under her belt, many consider Bannon-Rodrigues to be the best all-around female competitor in sport karate history.

MIMI CHAN
Wah Lum Kung-Fu/Instructor
As long as Mimi Chan is minding the store, wah lum kung-fu will be in safe hands. The daughter of grandmaster Pui Chan, Mimi dabbled in film work a few years ago but soon returned to her family’s Orlando school to train another generation of kung-fu practitioners.
Mimi, who provided all the martial arts moves for Disney’s animated character “Mulan,” recently took eight students to Baltimore, where they captured the U.S. Kuoshu Nationals team forms champion trophy.

TIFFANY CHEN
Tai Chi Competitor
Seems that Tiffany has been around so long she should be retired by now. The truth is, Chen has been around so long because she started so young. Daughter of the world-famous tai chi grandmaster William C.C. Chen, Tiffany is reaching her stride in the world of push hands competition.
Inside Kung-Fu’s 2004 “Competitor of the Year,” Tiffany won the award for best “Lei Tai” performance by a female athlete at the First World Competition Tournament in San Paulo, Brazil. The fighter with the model features also was among six athletes who captured gold medals for the U.S. team.

JEANNE CHINN
JKD Stylist/Actress
Jeanne Chinn is one of the busiest martial artist/actors in Hollywood. A longtime practitioner under the original Bruce Lee student Jerry Poteet, Chinn has graced the cover of several Unique Publications’ offerings and each time been a solid attraction.
With recent appearances on “Charmed” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” as well as an solid guest spot on “NYPD Blue,” Chinn has established herself as a solid character actor. Yet she is quick to say that none of her success would have been possible without the lessons she learned studying martial arts.

JENNIFER & CHERI HAIGHT
Wushu Stylists/Cirque Performers
To wushu or not to wushu? That was the question facing teenagers Cheri and Jennifer Haight two years ago. On one side was the chance to compete against the best in the world at their chosen avocation. On the other side were Cirque du Soleil and a chance to star in a multimillion dollar extravaganza to be staged nightly at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
In the end, the choice was obvious. The sisters now star in KA, Cirque’s newest and most-expensive martial arts and acrobatics spectacular. They are, in a word, spellbinding. Wushu weapons flash at the speed of light; spins and kicks fly by so fast your eyes have trouble measuring what’s real and what’s fantasy.
What’s real is the chance they took and the hard work they put into the show. They only fantasy is how easy they make it all look.

LUCY HARO
Lawyer/Wind Chun Stylist
Don’t look now, but the face of wing chun in American is rapidly changing. When Lucy Haro, a family law attorney by trade, wanted to learn wing chun, she skipped the middle men and went straight to the top.
A series of e-mails to grandmaster William Cheung led to training in Australia, followed by more extensive schooling in America. No one of the grandmaster’s most-trusted students, Haro is well on her way to becoming the most-important female wing chun voice in America.

ADDY HERNANDEZ
KI Fighting Concepts.

When Addy became just the second Latina to appear on a cover of Inside Kung-Fu, she instantly was recognized throughout the world as one of kung-fu’s top natural beauties. The fact that she also has carved a niche as being one of the best new martial arts technicians only lends validity to her standing.
Hernandez is a rare combination of femininity and ferocity; softness outside the studio and sheer power when it counts. Her mook jong sets are a joy to behold. With videos and books spotlighting Hernandez’ talents, her stock will be climbing for years to come

LI JUNG
Wushu/Actress/Stunt Woman
This former protégé of the great Wu Bin has easily made the transition from stunt double to on-camera attraction. The hard work that led to a spot on the Bejing Wushu team has propelled Jing to a permanent spot among Hollywood’s “A” list stunt choices.
Along with being one of the country’s most sought after wushu instructors, Li Jing is making inroads in her acting career. She recently filmed a commercial for Microsoft Intel, appeared in a National Geographic documentary, and worked with Donnie Yen in a Hong Kong movie.

MING QIU
Wushu Stylist/Stunt Double
When “Walker, Texas Rangers” co-star Nia Peeples needed a stunt double, Ming Qiu was the only choice. After seeing Ming’s demo tape, Peeples actually flew from Texas to California just to meet the former Jiangxu wushu star. The rest, as they say, is Hollywood history.
Sing 1995, Ming Qiu has been the first - and only - choice on most stunt coordinators’ call list. In the past five years, she’s doubled for Lucy Liu in Kill bill, Charlie’s Angels 1 and 2 and Ecks vs. Sever; shadowed Kelly Hu in Cradle to the Grave, The Scorpion King and “Martial Law;” and appeared in Collateral, Austin Powers: Goldmember, Starsky & Hutch and Spiderman 2. Her television credits include “Law and Order,” “CSI: Miami,” “The Shield,” and “Charmed.”
Currently working on MI: 3, Ming teaches privately at a local park in Monterey Park, Calif., where she ahs 15 students. She also just finished training Milla Jovovich for the film, Ultraviolet.

KA’IMI KUOHA
Kara-Ho Kenpo
From the time she was old enough to walk, Ka’imi Kuoha always seemed ahead of her time. A child actor in her formative years, a high school graduate in her early teens, Ka’imi was mastering her personal learning curve while the rest of her peers were just getting started.
Today, she is the designated leader of a martial arts system founded by the great William K.S. Chow in Hawaii. And she couldn’t be nicer, more unassuming or unaffected by the whirlwind surrounding her appointment. A dancer, singer and performer, Ka’imi first and foremost is a martial artist of great repute whose future will always be bright.

TIFFANY REYES
National Wushu Competitor
There are dedicated martial artists, and then there’s the kind of dedication exhibited by Tiffany Reyes. When Tiffany can’t make the 300-mile trip to Los Angeles to train with coach Li Jing, she’ll perform her sets in front of a computer camera. Together, the pair will discuss improvements and then Reyes will repeat the movements - over and over again.
A client services coordinator for Google, Reyes won a spot on the U.S. Wushu “C” National team in 2003. This year she hoped the four hours a day of practice will pay off with a spot on a the “A” team going to the World Wushu Games in Vietnam.

JENNY TANG
Wushu Instructor
Jenny Tang is a good example of the apple not falling far from the true. A niece of famed tai chi master Wei Qi He, tang spent her formative years as a member of the Shanghai National Wushu Team before attending college in America.
Today, as co-owner of Tai Chi Wushu Resource in Southern California, she is helping produce a new generation of internal stylists. Maybe just as important is her contribution to traditional tai chi tournaments in America, where she has become a trusted judge and valued advisor.

KA-YAN WONG
Choy Lay Fut Stylist/Model
Ka-Yan Wong was born to be a kung-fu master. Even as a baby, her father, choy lay fut master Tat-Mau Wong, was preparing her for the world of Chinese martial arts. By the time Ka-Yan was two, she already was doing full splits and could hold her leg on in a perfect sidekick.
Today, Ka-Yan is that rare martial artists who is exceptionally gifted in all aspects of kung-fu, including hand forms, weapons, sparring and even lion dance drumming. Ka-Yan’s two gold medals in broadsword and nanchuan at the 2004 World Traditional Wushu Festival Competition in China stand out as highlights in a long and successful run of competitions.
Now a young woman with a honors degree in biochemistry to her credit, Ka-Yan also has ventured into the world of acting and modeling. She recently spent a good deal of time in China furthering her modeling and kung-fu skills. Many predict it’s only a matter of time before this child martial artist prodigy makes her mark on the big screen.

GRAYCE WEY
Krav Maga/Traditional Kung-Fu/Actor
Businesswoman, creator, producer, writer, actor. Every time it seems as though Grayce Wey has finally found her niche, she discovers something else to make her life complete. Although she was born in San Jose, Calif., Grayce is fluent in Mandarin. This made her a valuable property with production companies in China and America. One of her early acting roles was a guest spot on Disney’s “Lizzie McGuire.”
But Grayce is much more than an actor. Her first martial art was krav maga. Loving its simplicity and effectiveness, Wey became an instructor and developed the U.S. licensing program for the Krave Maga National Training Center. However, she returned to her cultural roots several years ago by studying traditional kung-fu with Jonathon Wang of the Beijing tai Chi and Kung-Fu Academy.
An accomplished writer, Wey began Desert Lotus Productions in 2003. One of the company’s first projects was Anna’s Eve, a horror film in which - not surprisingly - Grayce produced, directed and starred.

Addy Hernandez Profile


Inside Kung-Fu
“Profile Addy Hernandez Taking Charge”
By Dave Cater
November 2002
Pg 136

Talk about your poster girl for high school’s “Most Likely to Succeed” honor! Addy Hernandez was as close to a can’t-miss as you’ll ever find at Chelan High School in Washington.
Homecoming queen. Honor roll. Class president. Cross country runner. Softball player. Martial artist. All while working two jobs to help support her family. Big things were expected of Addy when she started her freshman year at Eastern Washington University.
And she expected big things in return.
“I planned on studying personal training, physical therapy and philosophy,” she remembers, with a smile.
But expectations soon were met with disappointment.
While her body was in a classroom in Cheney, her mind was focused three hours away in an unstructured training hall that more resembled a scene from Walden’s Pond.
A year earlier, Hernandez saw a notice in a local newspaper announcing the promotion of martial arts instructor Joseph Simonet. It took three class before the eclectic master agreed to meet with the high school senior.
“I had to travel up this dirt road,” she recalls. “The sign coming up said, ‘Primitive Road.’ When I got there, he told me to hit him as hard as I could. I went to throw a right punch and then felt myself on the floor looking up. I said, “Cool, okay when do we start?”
Simonet turned to his newest student and simply said, “You’re in.”
That as the beginning of Addy’s year-long love affair with the martial arts.
“I didn’t expect it to affect me that way,” explains Hernandez, who was born in Michuacan, Mexico. “The power the discipline gives you is incredible. It was a fantasy for me to know the martial arts and become proficient and comfortable with them. It changed my whole perspective in life and that was largely due to my teacher.”
She sought the same transformation in college, but there was none to be found.
“When I left the martial arts and went to college,” she notes, “I thought I would find the same kind of teacher and philosophy. But it didn’t take me long to realize the professors and instructors didn’t share the same ideals. I had gone through such an incredible self-seeking journey in martial arts. After a year, I decided to make martial arts a career. Joseph and I became business partners and opened up our KI Fighting Concepts school.”
Hernandez, whose father, Lauriano, moved the family to Washington after the death of her mother, took to her new life with incredible energy and dedication. In just seven years, the 5-foot-3, 118-pound brunette has earned a third-degree black belt in Tracy’s kenpo karate; a fourth-degree in doce pares under master Christopher J. Petrilli; a seond degree in eskrido under grandmaster Cacoy Conete; a third-degree in KI Fighting Concepts (a hugely popular wing chun/pentjak silat/kenpo hybrid); and been certified as a tai chi teacher.
“Usually, fellow martial artists envy my position, because I live in the gym from morning to night.”
That’s no exaggeration. Addy begins each day with a 6 a.m. kickboxing class. That’s followed by a full day of privates, a kids’ class, group classes and more privates. When her martial arts days ends at 9 p.m., her personal day begins with weight training, yoga, Yang tai chi and long-distance running, where she is training for a marathon (26.2 miles).
“I like to take advantage of my youth,” she explains.
Hernandez, who has teamed with Simonet to produce a series of highly successful videotapes for Paladin Press, believes she would have still been successful in life without martial arts. But inside, something would have been missing.
“I think I would have been successful to a point, but without that understanding of myself and that take-charge attitude, I wouldn’t have been as far as I am now with anything I wanted to do,” she admits.

Name: Addy Hernandez
Birth date: June 30, 1976
Birth place: Mexico
Came to America: 1980
Hometown: Lake Chelan, Wash.
Siblings: 3 sisters, one brother
Started Martial Arts: 17
Arts Studied: Yang style tai chi, Kenpo karate, Doce pares, Wing chun, Pentjak silat, Kickboxing, Pankration
Instructor: Joseph Simonet
Height: 5-foot-3
Weight: 118-pounds
Belt Levels: 3rd degree in Tracy’s kenpo karate; 4th in doce pares; 3rd degree in KI Fighting Concepts (wing chun/kenpo/pentjak silat); and certified teacher in tai chi
Current Work: Teaches martial arts full time
Outside Loves: Gardening, pottery, working with bonsai trees, training for a full marathon
Career Goals: To make more martial arts videotapes and to continue studying and teaching martial arts. I also hope to be a voice for martial arts women everywhere.
Facts: Loves children. Also speaks fluent Spanish
10 Years From Now: “I want to establish myself and make a name for myself in the martial arts world. I also want to be the CEO of global e-commerce business.”

The Blade Set


Inside Kung-Fu
“The Dynamic Blade Set”Interview by Dave Cater
July 2006
Pg. 90-94

ONE OF THE CORNERSTONES OF THE KI FIGHTING CONCEPTS APPROACH IS ITS DYNAMIC BLADE SET.
INSIDE KUNG-FU: Please explain the blade set’s connection to your highly successful KI Fighting Concepts Slam Set?
JOSEPH SIMONET: First, let me explain what the Slam Set entails. The Slam Set is about 60 seconds of a high-impact, high-intensity form done on the mook jong (wooden dummy). So far, the Slam Set has taken about 25 years of research and development. Fine-tuning and recalibration of the Slam Set is a lifelong evolution.
The Slam Set is my database. Every single movement I train can be found in the Slam Set. Bruce Lee’s book, “Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self Defense,” states that “a good gung-fu man is a simplifier.” I’ve simplified nearly 35 years of training and study into a 60-second database. From the Slam Set I’ve derived five major new models of training methods. These are the Skill Sets, Two-Man Set, Club Set, Club and Blade Set, and the Blade Set. The Blade Set was created using the empty-hand Slam Set form.
IKF: Are you saying that the blade set is just doing the Slam Set with a knife in your hand?
JS: At first that was my intent. However, one day I was watching my partner Addy Hernandez working the Blade Set in the air and I had an epiphany. Watching Addy I realized a metamorphosis had taken place. The blade set had become its own entity.
IKF: From what arts were the Slam Set and Blade Set taken?
JS: I built the Slam Set predominantly form Tracy’s kenpo, wing chun, pentjak silat, doce pares and tai chi. The blade set came out of the Slam Set. As previously stated, all my movements at this point are from the Slam Set database.
IKF: I didn’t realize that kenpo was a knife-based art. Where’s the connection?
JS: Al Tracy was teaching me a blade/knife interpretation of kenpo as far back as 1975. Kenpo is an art rich with lethal and crippling blade applications. However, it’s not always known or taught.
IKF: How did you decide which movements to leave in and which ones to discard?
JS: Over the years I’ve developed a formula for defining value of the material I keep, and to ascertain its function and practicality. The acronym I use for this process is CAPA or Conceptual Analysis and Practical Application. When building a martial arts modality, one must adhere to the strict law of physics, anatomy, philosophy and intent. In my pursuit of developing an art of the 21st century, I am not bound by tradition, dogma, religion, culture or any other futilities. It is my intention to rid martial arts of moronic vacuities.
IKF: Using your own acronym, it sounds as though you’re expressing your conceptual analysis. So tell us your practical application of the choosing and discarding of various martial arts material.
JS: After studying in m aforementioned arts for years, I began seeing them as inanimate physical structures. These structures being analogous to let’s say the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and so on. I broke down these arts to their simplest forms and components. Filtering through these disassembled arts I gathered what I discerned as universal truths and/or essential characteristics. Someone once stated we should, “Absorb what is useful…” I would suggest we “Extract what is essential.”
After unifying these common and essential parts, I went back to the disassembled arts and connected secondary parts as well. These universal and secondary components became the elements of the Slam Set-Art and Science of Mook Jong.
IKF: After training for 35 years, you must have left thousands of parts in these piles. Are they of no value? What did you do with them?
JS: To continue the metaphor, I dug a mass grave and bulldozed all the unnecessary material and covered it up. The last I heard was that a herd of sheep were grazing over the grave as they chewed the last decay off the traditional martial arts carcass.
IKF: Why was it important to incorporate a blade set into your system?
JS: In my view, martial arts in general is in need of a paradigm shift. I’ve been burdened with the obsession of designing a truly new and necessary hybrid martial system. In pursuance of a weapons art, I once again address CAPA.
My conceptual analysis leads me right to the kitchen drawer. If one were not restricted by frivolous doctrine or mandate, knife/blade training is the most natural and accessible of all weapons. Every house, condo, apartment, mobile home, palace, tepee or cave worldwide has knives in them. It seemed reasonable to create a weapons system based on a weapon everyone has access to.
To elaborate on the paradigm shift, let’s look back at the tournaments of the 1970s and the 1980s. Regardless of what “martial art” everyone trained, their sparring pretty much looked the same. So I’m thinking, why train in such and such an art but fight completely different than the art itself? I’ve always felt that every movement one trains must be functional fighting. If not, the practitioner is overloading the nervous system with superfluous motion, all of which equates to being a waste of time, money and opportunity. Martial arts should be based on practical, functional and simple movement. Even today’s students are learning worthless kata, technique and history, all in the pursuance of worthless rank.
The translation of the Slam Set (empty hand) into the blade set is an expression and application of a “Seamless Transitional Integration”-from empty hand to blade to empty hand, regardless of order. Thus, form and function are indeed synonymous.
IKF: Most of your Blade Set moves are practiced on the mook jong. Why is that?
JS: Actually, all the Blade Set movements are practiced on the wooden dummy. As I stated earlier, the Slam Set is the template for the Blade Set. So wooden dummy training is an essential expression of the Blade Set. Also, the Blade Set is practiced with an opponent/training partner as well as in the air.
IKF: How does the mook jong work translate to real-life combat?
JS: The wooden dummy is one of the most versatile training apparatuses in martial arts. It allows the practitioner the ability to generate full-force attacks, trapping options, precise limb destruction and rapid-fire flow with adhesion and spring-loaded attacks. These are essential training attributes necessary for the development of a true combat fighter.
IKF: If someone were left-handed, would that hinder his Blade Set development?
JS: Absolutely not. Within the Blade Set, both the right and left hands are utilized. I designed the Blade Set to be effective with a standard right-hand grip of a standard left-hand grip. Also, one could use an ice pick grip with either hand. If someone wanted to, the Blade Set could be performed with two blades at once with any grip on either hand.
IKF: The Blade Set appears perfect for women to learn. Why is that?
JS: Actually, the Blade Set is perfect for anyone to learn if he is serious about truly surviving a brutal attack. However, that being said, the blade is the ultimate equalizer when it comes to self-defense (other than a gun). Women can level the playing field against stronger and/or larger opponents with functional blade application. Knives are easy to carry, conceal, affordable, legal and lethal.
IKF: What knifefighters/practitioners out there today are you impressed with and why?
JS: There are three blade experts in the United States that I would consider world-class. I’ve personally spent time with each of them. So, my opinion is based on first-hand experience. They are Kelly Worden, Jim Keating and Mike Janich.
IKF: What particular skills and/or accomplishments do you perceive inherent in these knife experts?
JS: Let’s start with Kelly Worden. Kelly is the most skilled and toughest student Remy Presas ever had. He’ll bring it, and bring it hard. Jim Keating is a knifefighter’s knife expert whose skills are exemplary in every sense of the word. Mike Janich is the smartest knife expert I’ve ever met. Mike has successfully translated his massive intellect into surgeon-like precision with his blade.
IKF: Give me three examples of unique and/or essential elements of your Slam Set-Blade Set series that differentiate it from other arts?
JS: 1. My entire database is a 60-second form. I can focus on honing a relatively small amount of information as opposed to cluttering my nervous system with unnecessary junk. 2. Space. The Slam/Blade Set can be done in a very confined space (4x4 feet). Being effective in so little a space is perfect for airplanes, security, crowds, between parked cars, etc. 3. A Slam/Blade Set practitioner can deliver a lethal dose of knees, elbows, blades and attitude in fractions of a second in a “Seamless Transitional Integration.”
IKF: How do you plan on propagating your art?
JS: Several ways, actually. First, Addy and I own a gym in Wenatchee, Wash., and have about 175 students. Secondly, we have teamed up with Unique Publications and we’ll be releasing our Blade Set book later this year. Thirdly, Paladin Press will be releasing DVDs on our Slam Set curriculum later this year as well.
And finally, we will be teaching the “Blade set” at out 7th Annual Wind and Rock Training Camp in Lake Chelan, Wash., July 7-9. Come and join us. Check out our Web site at www.kifightingconcepts.com for more details.