“Journey to the East”:  An International Kungfu Showcase

The Liu Institute International, in conjunction with the Shaolin Temple Warrior team headed by Shi Deyang and Shaolin Legacy productions, will present “Journey to the East”, a large-scale martial arts, dance, acrobatics, and music stage show in Mobile and New Orleans in November and December, respectively.  The New Orleans production will be filmed by CCTV, the world’s largest television network with more than 300 million viewers.  With over 100 cast members from the U.S. and China, “Journey to the East” is one of the largest Shaolin shows ever produced.

“Journey to the East” is a modern version of the 16th century Chinese classic “Journey to the West”, or, “Monkey King”.  It follows a group of young Kungfu students from New Orleans who travel to China with their Master and who come to face the various challenges and vicissitudes real life has to offer.  Through these challenges, the students learn who they are and how to live harmoniously with others.

Anyone interested in participating, whether by being in the show or assisting with it’s multi-faceted production, is encouraged to contact the Liu Institute ASAP.

Poster designed by Helen Savage-Olsen

Liu Institute on the Road

This Summer, students of the Liu Institute took trips to compete at the International Chinese Martial Arts Championship in Orlando, FL, and to visit and train at the Shaolin Temple in China.  There was also a tournament held at the New Orleans school.

Nadja Melzer said of China, “China was a colorful experience for all the senses.  Visiting the Shaolin Temple, especially, left a powerful impression.  As a European in the U.S., I am already divided between two continents.  Now, I have a third one that I want to go back to!”  Getting to experience the Temple and many other famous sites and cities is always a high point in student training, and the trip is always widely anticipated.

At the tournament in Orlando, we had six students compete and three students win medals.  Those who competed were George Lunsford, Deforest Dennis, Dominick and Jacob Namias, Jay Pelegrin, and Terrell Edwards.  Deforest Dennis won gold for his staff form, and Dominick and Jacob Namias won silver and bronze, respectively, for their horse stances.  The competitors and those who helped out with travel, setting up and maintaining the booth, coordinating daily events, etc., definitely acted as great representatives of our school.

The New Orleans tournament was held during the official grand opening of the New Orleans school and was attended by many students and visitors.  The event culminated with a night of Sanshou fights in which the Liu Institute, Jeff Bordelon’s Southern Kungfu school, and some other amateur fighters competed.  Patrick Barry and Lac and Andy Ngo also demonstrated incredible demo fights—full of technicality and comic relief!   Thanks to everyone who came and/or competed for a wonderful day!

 Important Dates

· Nov. 16-18 - International Festival Demos (Mobile)

· Nov. 22-24 - SCHOOL CLOSED —Thanksgiving Holiday

· Nov. 25 - “Journey…” - Mobile Show

· Dec. 2 - “Journey…” - New Orleans Show

· Dec. 16 - Quarterly Testing in Mobile

· Dec. 20 - Jan. 1 - SCHOOL CLOSED— Christmas Holiday

· Feb. 17 - Chinese New Year

For more details on Important Dates, contact the Liu Institute.

Letter from the Editor

It is my pleasure to tell you that our school is performing well.  We have improved with leaps and bunds since the hurricane last year.  The hurricane did not stop us, but motivated us to work harder and become more adaptive and more resilient.  We are certainly one of the most determined and dedicated schools to promote health and wellness on the planet.  We are a family with a mission dedicated to health and wellness and spiritual well-being for humanity and universal harmony.  With that mission in mind, we travel on the paths of Chan and enlightenment. This Shaolin family is a special community on earth to train highly disciplined and highly dedicated individuals striving to bring out not only the best of themselves, but also helping others. We lead others by demonstrating the principles of Shaolin: discipline. self-control, loyalty, integrity, honesty, modesty, courtesy, perseverance, courage, and indomitable spirit.  We are in peace with ourselves and with people around us.

The upcoming Shaolin Legacy Show is to exactly express that mission - that journey - Journey to the East.  Our school will premiere “Journey to the East,” a live and large-scale martial arts, dance, music, and acrobatics show at Tulane University McAlister Auditorium in New Orleans at 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM respectively on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006. Various parts of the production will be performed at the Mobile International Festival (Nov. 16-18) during the three days festival, which promises to attract an audience of 17,000, locally.  A full-scale production will also be performed at the Mobile Civic Center Theater at 7:00 PM on Saturday, November 25, 2006. This inspirational performance, complete with unforgettable characters, incredible physical feats, and beautiful dance and music, will appeal to all ages. The collaboration between China and the United States will feature more than 100 international cast members and will be one of the largest Shaolin shows ever presented by the two countries.

The famous Shaolin Temple Warrior team, led by Deyang, my brother and the most famous Shaolin grand master of China and head master of the Shaolin Warrior Monks, will accompany the students of the Liu Institute International, USA in a show that will be filmed by China’s CCTV, the largest television network in the world with more than 300 million viewers.  This true cooperation between nations and peoples in bringing this story of universal understanding to the stage attests to the abilities of the human spirit and worldwide brotherhood in promoting for the greater good.

The show depicts the Shaolin Warriors’ high mental and physical discipline, the incredible body and mind control and the indomitable spirit that have impressed millions worldwide. 

Peace,

Deru

Mobile/Daphne News

Well, the big news is the quick approach of “Journey to the East”.  Everybody’s preparing themselves to make it a great success.  But, a show needs players, and players must be trained.  Shifu’s choices for school instructors have definitely been good ones!

The Cardio Sanshou class is growing nicely.  The students really enjoy it, and seem to finish every class by dropping sweaty dollar-bills on the office desk for cold drinks.  The Captain of this cardio army is none other than daytime office personality, Susan Goucher.  We thank her for her commitment to the school and its students.  She definitely is an all-around leader.

Not to be outdone, T.J. DeZauche, Kungfu assistant instructor in Mobile and Daphne, has really been wonderful with the kids’ class.  He has brought many great ideas to fruition in the building of a solid kids program full of monkey-rolls and forehead stamping for a job well-done.  He is greatly appreciated.

Joshua Beech, Kungfu assistant instructor, in addition to teaching intermediate Kungfu and at the Alabama School of Math & Science on Sundays and Daphne on Wednesdays, was, for a while, kept busy late at night designing a flyer for the Mobile show.  His computer design and teaching abilities have been well utilized, and he holds an invaluable role here at the school.

Thanks, also, to Wolf and Nadja Melzer, Helen Savage and Dararith Kuy, without whom the Taiji and Sanshou at our school would weep, arms stretched in longing, for their great spirits and unmatched character.

New Orleans News

This quarter saw the first anniversary since the New Orleans Area was devestated by Hurricane Katrina, and what a year it has been!  Fortunately for us, our building was relatively untouched by the storm and subsequent flooding, which meant we were able to get an early start bringing our business back.  The momentum of being the only show in town has now passsed, but the Liu Institute buzz is still on in New Orleans, and we are constantly seeing new faces every week!  As we are busy helping the latest wave of new students feel at home, we are very happy to welcome back someone who we’ve missed very much, a very important part of our school and community - Meline Ucategui!  After the storm, she lived in Houston for almost a year, and now that she is done with her world traveling we are glad to have Meline back and helping in the office and on the floor.

The New Orleans school has shown huge growth in our kids’ classes the past few months, and we are happy to see families who have been with us since January or February finally putting the finishing touches on rebuilding their homes!  We are especially proud of our kids who have taken the responsibility of pre-discipleship - Terrell, Jacob, Dominick, Jimmy, Madeline and Brandt.  Of these, Terrell, Jacob and Dominick get special recognition for all the hard work they have put in to their studies, including competing in Orlando and staying after class to work on their forms.  We are proud of all of our kids!  Remember to recognize all of the instructors and assistants who have been teaching the kids’ classes - Ryan, Jeff, John, Thomas, J.C.,David & DaGang.

We were sad to have to say goodbye to longtime student Steven Quick this quarter.  He went off to St. Louis for graduate school and his good nature and tireless efforts have been missed.  Apparently, at his new art school his professors have given him charge of the forge, so we can look forward to a line of Quick swords an other weapons in the future!

Despite the fact that our New Orleans school has lost several valuable and high-ranking students after Katrina, we are pleased to have had some important advancements.  In the past quarter, we have seen several of our students receive their blue sashes.  Also, Mike Niedenfuer received his purple sash, George Lunsford was awarded brown, and John Lutz received the first part of his golden black!  Also, thanks and congratulations to the new adults who have accepted their new pre-discipleship responsibilities:  Dylan, Patrice, Jeff, and the others who could not make the quarterly testing but will be announced soon.  We are building a strong leadership team, with hopes to get our demo team running strong as well after the big show.

Finally, some bad news - our beautiful space has been sold to a developer and will soon be demolished.  This means we need to find a new space by Mardi Gras 2007!  We have been searching, and we mean to stay close to the area where we are currently - we encourage everyone to help out by keeping their eyes peeled for places for sale or lease.  Thanks for a great quarter everybody, and lets do great at the “Journey to the East” shows!

Testing Results & Pre-Disciple Induction

KUNGFU

White—Ryan Walker, Blythe Calamari, Ian Calamari, Jonathan McKeough, Patrice Bucher, Sheila Calamari, Andrew Davis, Nick Marinello, Geoffrey Tasker, Jakobe Ingram, Ethel Kostmayer, John Pinto, Roman Piele, Hunter Tyon, Raesah Et’Tawil, Batia Peer, Matthew Trejo

Yellow—Jan Melzer, Heather Graves, Dylan Le, Sheryl Mader, Jason White, David Zhang, Nicolas Adams, Laura Gregory, Justin McQuillen, Jason Chliszczyk, Ricardo Cruz, Justin Cosper, Mark Dunaway, Sophie Leonard

Orange—Irving Boykin, Tyler Moore, Chris Acklen, Don Earnshaw, Tonya Tolbert, Reynaldo Lutz-Cruz, Jimmy Roy, Madeline Roy, Olivia Roy, Jacob Roy, Kathleen Templet, Ryan Templet , Marco Castro, Brittany Fryoux, Evan Norman, Royce Norman, Jeff Ryan, Sherard Box, Kaitlyn Evans, Drew Evans, Derek Graham, Brenna Meehan, Chris Mooney, Hayden Harrell

Green—John Jefferson, Terrell Edwards

Blue—Graham Holladay, Andrew Jefferson, Ryan Brent, Thomas Garatie

Red—Nadja Melzer

Purple—Peter Barry

TAIJI

White—Elizabeth Evans, Stanley Burd, Luke Bienvenu, Lizhen Chen, Glenn Heisser, Bob Craig, Jennifer Swanson, Andrew Acklen, Jason Chliszczyk, Frank Sigler

Yellow—Nina Dhurandhar, Philip Montalbano, Brian Roux, Lauren Thomas, Heide Sarubin

Orange—Donna Earnshaw, Patrice Bucher, Eddy Luhurbudi, Mark Orfanos, Jeff Ryan, Don Earnshaw

Green—Ryan Brent, Chris Cusimano, Icela Rodgers

Blue—Jay Pelegrin, Susan Goucher

Red—Nadja Melzer

SANSHOU

White—John Pinto

Yellow—William Semple

Orange—James Rutherford

____________________________________________________

PRE-DISCIPLE INDUCTEES

Mobile:  Donna Earnshaw, Chris Mooney, William Palacio, Tonya Tolbert, Chris Acklen, Tyler Moore

New Orleans:  Terrell Edwards, Jacob Namias, Dominick Namias, Brandt Fisk, Jimmy Roy, Patrice Bucher, Jeff Ryan, Dylan Le, Jason White

New Students

Mobile/Daphne:  Frank Sigler, Roman Piele, Matthew Trejo, Allison Trejo, Andrew Acklen, William McGill, Jeranda Boykin, John Pinto, Batia Peer, Mary Casuccio, Aaron Wilson, Sarah Wilson, Christian Wilson, Shasta Crager, Cameron Demouey, Anthony Ingram, Elizabeth Evans, Joshua Yang, Shigong Yang

Welcome Back!:  Edward Garrett & Walker Sacco

New Orleans:  Michelle Cochran, Michael Marshall, James Davies, Edward “Ski” Piwowarski, Conrad Schwartz, Linda Schwartz, Ned Robinson, Francisco Oliveira, Blake Allday, Bo Hill, Todd Robottom, Hakon Estevez, Peter Lambousy, Ray Lewis, Nathalie Lewis, Dimont Nguyen, Grace Mineo-Marinello, Keith McKendall, Andrew Trentacoste, Dutch Hankins, Ben Egan, Raymond Cross, Nery Paniagua, Marco Topete, Howard Taitt, Rheanna Farr, Kaylee Jackson, C.J. Hauser, Chelsey McMillion, Jonathan McKeough, Jonathan Dunn, Taylor Taitt, Brett Bergeron, Elizabeth Maurin, Omena Oberuvwu

Welcome Back!:  Meline Uzcategui & Eddy Luhurbudy

Words of Enlightenment

 

Duct tape is like the Force; it has a Light side and a Dark side and it holds the Universe together.

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

The problem with reality is a lack of background music.

I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.

Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: "Mankind." Basically, it's made up of two separate words - "mank" and "ind". What do these words mean? It's a mystery, and that's why so is mankind.

“Do it again - one-thousand times!”

- Shifu

Mission Statement

The Shaolin, Taiji Kungfu, and Chinese Health-Wellness Programs at the Liu Institute International are designed to bring the best of Chinese philosophy, Arts, Medicine, and Exercise to the West, thereby improving the way of life in the U. S. and all over the world.  The main objective is to provide quality health and martial art programs to facilitate personal, mental and spiritual growth and to help people make life-long choices for optimum health and well-being.

To achieve this objective, the Liu Institute International offers a variety of programs. The youth programs are designed to help improve children’s self-discipline, self-confidence, self-control, and respect, as well as their physical and mental well-being.  We help them develop character, acquire mental and physical skills to enable them to help themselves and their community with integrity, and prepare them for their journey in life.

The adult programs are designed to assist each student to improve overall fitness and mental and physical Qi balance, and to empower himself/herself to channel energy and turn stress into uplifting Qi so as to meet life challenges.

_________________________________________________________________

The Liu Quarterly        Editor-in-Chief:  Shifu Shi Deru

Contributing Editor:  Paul Howell

Contributing Writers:  Shifu Shi Deru, Paul Howell, John Lutz

Photography from China:  Tom Clolinger

The New Liu Point System

Refer a friend?… get points;  Do well in class?… get points;  Participate where points are awarded?… GET POINTS!  What are points?  They are redeemable as monetary credit towards ANYTHING at the Liu Institute. 1 point = $0.50, so... Need a shirt? $15 or 30 points. Need a staff? $25 or 50 points. Want a drink? $1 or 2 points. Anything you want, including PRIVATE LESSONS with Shifu or an instructor (must schedule).

Point Distrubution

Referrals:  1-Month Trial = 5pts.;  Enroll = 95pts.

Other points are awarded at Shifu’s discretion.           

So, tell people! Put your name on a card, flyer or poster! Bring people the school and the school will bring points to you!