July 9, 2007, Estonia
ZIRAN MARTIAL ARTS DIRECTOR TEACHES AT INTERNATIONAL SWORDSMANSHIP
FESTIVAL
------------------------------------------------------------------------------Below,
two students practice miao dao partnered drills
Ziran Martial Arts director, Seth Davis was one of four international teachers
featured at the International Swordsmanship Festival held near Tartu, Estonia
from July 1st-7th. Nearly fifty particpants were present representing, Holland,
the US, Autralia, Sweden, Russia, and Estonia. Brian Szura, a senior student
at Ziran Martial Arts also attended the seminar. Seth taught daily classes
in Miao Dao (long double handed saber). In prep-aration for the seminar,
Seth spent six months training intensively and refining his Miao Dao skills
under the guidance of his Chinese swordsmanship teacher Scott M. Rodell,
based in Washington D.C. Other weapons taught at the seminar included spear,
broadsword, broadsword and shield combination, and Jian (Chinese straight
sword). The purpose of the festival was to look at the broad range of Chinese
weapons historically used in melee on the battlefield and to put them into
the context of actual combat under a variety of conditions. This was the
second such festival held in Estonia. The first was held at Narva in 2002.
June 9th, 2007
CHINESE SWORDSMANSHIP AT THE NJ MEDIEVAL FANTASY FESTIVAL
The New Jersey Chinese Historical Swordsmanship Association, a
group based at Ziran Martial Arts of Highland Park participated in the Medieval
Fantasy Festival near Hacketstown, NJ. The Chinese Swordsmanship group was
invited to provide historical demonstrations and activies for visitors to
the festival.The group director, Seth Davis demonstrated classical Chinese
weapons forms including Jian (straight sword), and Miao Dao (double handed
saber) along with his students. Seth taught numerous short lessons for patrons
of festival, which consisted of basic techniques with the straight sword
and historical explanations. The Festival is held anually at Hacketstown
and draws visitors from all over New Jersey who seek to enjoy a brief escape
from the everyday.
March 31st, 2007
ZIRAN MARTIAL ARTS MEMBERS SHOW "WHAT TAIJIQUAN REALLY IS"AT
JAPANESE SPRING GATHERING IN PRICETON NEW JERSEY
Seven members of Ziran Taiji Gongfu of Highland Park, NJ
performed at the annual Princeton Haru no Kai (Spring Gathering) held by
the Nikeijinkai (Japanese-American Community Association). The performers
demonstrated basic and advanced taiji forms including taiji sword and showed
taijiquan is applied for self-defense. The director, Seth Davis, with the
assistance of his students revealed "the martial side of taiji,"presenting
how the practice of tuishou (pushhands) develops skills that may be applied
to qinna(joint-locking), imbalancing an attacker, striking, etc; and ultimately
transitions into sanshou (free-fighting). The finale of the performance
included a choregraphed battle in which all aspects of taijiquan previously
presented came into play. Members of the gathering credited the performance
as both "exciting and informative." Students at Ziran Martial
Arts spent approximately six weeks of hard preparation for the event. Seth
stated that he wanted to spread the understanding that "taijiquan is
a deep and powerful martial art, a full system of study that serves the
multiple purposes of cultivating health, practical self-defense skills,
and personal growth."
