The UW Chinese Martial Arts Club is currently offering various classes for students to join. There is Wushu Fundamentals, which is about traditional Chinese Kung Fu with an emphasis on weapon forms, hand forms, and acrobatic-like moves. Sanda is another class they offer, which is a mixed fighting style of traditional Kung Fu and modern combat. It was developed by the Chinese military as a self-defence technique. The Northern Praying Mantis class was developed by a monk observing a praying mantis kill a cicada. Northern Praying Mantis has several styles, but this class only focuses on Plum Flower Praying Mantis and Seven Star.
A fundamental skill in Wushu are the jumps. The club is releasing a new class this spring term called Wushu Jumps, where participants will “focus on building up aerial skills and learning jumps that are used in Wushu.” Strength and coordination will be carefully trained to ensure that students will be able to develop the skills needed to perform Wushu jumps. It is important to note that this class, like the many others that are offered by the club, is open for those of all skill levels. While it might be intimidating to try something new, especially a new physical activity, the UW Chinese Martial Arts Club is welcoming to beginners.
The class instructor is Daniel Ranieri Negri, who has 23 years of experience with wushu jumps, parkour, tricking, and acrobatics. When asked what he was most excited for with this new class, he replied, “I am excited about pushing the limits of people and the happiness [that] students have when they land something for the first time.” As mentioned, the club’s classes are welcoming to beginners — success in learning something is thrilling for both the instructors and students. The learning environment is encouraging, which makes trying this new class less intimidating.
There is a lot that UW offers in terms of clubs, and students can try anything they are interested in. They should take that chance while it’s available to them, because they might find something they really enjoy, like the Wushu Jumps class. For clubs, I’m sure it’s always nice to see a new face around.
All the UW Chinese Martial Arts Club classes have a free club-try-it membership until June 2. Wushu jumps will be held on Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the CIF Studio. Sanda is held on the same day in the same place from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sanda is also held on Fridays from 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the CIF Studio. Wushu fundamentals is held from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the PAC Studio on Mondays. On Wednesdays, Praying Mantis is held from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at CIF Studio. Visit their Instagram for more information.
