Chinese-Indonesian Martial Arts Club

Class name changing to “Indonesian Kung Fu”

Erik Harris — Thu, 10 May 2012 19:03:59 +0000

Lately, our club’s classes have been getting a bit lost in the ParkTakes course catalog because another “Kung Fu” class has so many individual levels listed, putting our class at the end of a long list of nearly-identical class names, almost making it look like those other classes are precursors to ours. Some of the club’s members suggested changing the class name to separate it from that list. After coming up with a bunch of names that were a little too long for the ParkTakes system (the most obvious choice being “Chinese-Indonesian Martial Arts“), the class is being changed to “Indonesian Kung Fu.”

This name change was originally supposed to take effect in the Fall quarter, but because of some schedule changes, it’s taking effect only for Wednesday classes for the Summer quarter, with Saturday’s class continuing as “Kung Fu / Silat” for one more quarter. In the Fall, both classes will be listed under the new name. The difference is because Wednesday’s class is not in the paper catalog yet, whereas Saturday’s is, and the deadline for course information in the catalog passed before the class name was changed.

Some will undoubtedly think this name is strange, since gungfu is not an Indonesian martial art. Liu Seong Gungfu has its origins in Hokkien (Fukien) White Crane, a southern Chinese gungfu system, but Willem Reeders, from whom the art in its current form comes from, was raised in Indonesia. Growing up in Indonesia, he trained in various Indonesian martial arts (silat and poekoelan systems). Aspects of these systems made their way into his base gungfu system, to the point where the art is about half Chinese and half Indonesian, and depending on who you ask, either seems to be a bit more prominent. The art is no longer purely a gungfu system, nor is it a silat system. It is a gungfu system with a strong Indonesian influence, so the new course name, “Indonesian Kung Fu,” accurately describes the nature of this art, in much the same way that the previous name did.

Weeknight classes moving

Erik Harris — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 18:44:08 +0000

Spring quarter enrollment has been going for awhile, so you’ve probably noticed that the schedule has changed. I’m working on moving the class to South Run RECenter, because I’ve moved about 35 minutes from Lee District RECenter. The best time slot that they had available was on Wednesdays, at the same time as our long-running Tuesday class. This time slot has never been great for a lot of students, so we’re working on trying to find a slightly later weeknight timeslot for a future quarter, but first the class needs to get established, which is always difficult for a new class.

An additional weeknight class will also be opening back up soon. Its schedule will depend largely on what times are good for interested students. Now that I’m settled into our new house, and the vast majority of work on our garage is complete, I’ll be hosting a weekly informal class at home, which is open for free to anyone who’s enrolled in either class at a RECenter. More details will be coming soon, but my initial thought is to hold it on Monday nights, so that it’s not immediately adjacent to the new Wednesday night class.

Edit: Due to a combination of low enrollment and miscommunication, the Spring Wednesday class has been canceled. The class will now be offered in the Fall quarter, starting in early July.

Upcoming Seminar: Renaissance Martial Arts Festival 2011

Erik Harris — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 23:54:21 +0000

Erik will be teaching a session at the 12^th (or maybe 11^th?) annual Renaissance Martial Arts festival in Rochester, NY. The RMA Festival celebrates the various martial arts that are taught in Western New York state, and invites a few instructors from out of town each year. Erik has known the organizers of this seminar for about 20 years, and has attended about half of the prior festivals, and this will be his second time sharing Liu Seong Gung Fu during the event. See the event flyer for a partial list of instructors to be featured.

This seminar will take place all day on Saturday, November 5^th and Sunday, November 6^th, and is open to anyone who is interested. Along with the school’s page linked above, there’s a Facebook event page.

Seminar: Joe Salomone, Rochester NY, July 30

Erik Harris — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 13:48:20 +0000

I’ve been remiss in posting about this upcoming seminar. Joe Salomone will be teaching a seminar at 80 Rockwood Place, Rochester, NY (Harp Karate) on Saturday, July 30th, from 1-4PM. The seminar will cost $50. Movement and technique from the 3 and female system will be shared as taught to Mr. Salomone from his Teacher, Grand Master Arthur Sikes, who was a senior student of Great Grand Master Liu Seong (Willem Reeders).
If you’re going to be anywhere near Rochester at the end of July, I strongly encourage you to attend. Mr. Salomone’s seminars are always incredibly valuable.

2010 Renaissance Martial Arts Festival Update

Erik Harris — Sat, 18 Sep 2010 03:29:36 +0000

Just as an update, the first official flyer for the 2010 Renaissance Martial Arts Festival has been released. Again, if you have any reason to be in Rochester on the weekend of November 6th, don’t miss this seminar. It’s the 11th annual festival, and of the 6-7 of the previous ones that I’ve been to, every one of them has been excellent.

I was asked for two seminar descriptions for the festival, so depending on scheduling, I’ll be teaching either one or two sessions, sharing methods of taking opponents down to the ground based on two principles: where the head goes, the body goes; and the body cannot stand without its foundation. We’ll cover techniques and principles of head takedowns and leg takedowns, examining these concepts from as many perspectives as time allows.

Upcoming Seminar: Renaissance Martial Arts Festival 2010

Erik Harris — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:59:05 +0000

Erik will be teaching a session at the 11^th annual Renaissance Martial Arts festival in Rochester NY. The RMA Festival celebrates the various martial arts that are taught in Western New York state, and invites a few instructors from out of town each year. Erik has known the organizers of this seminar for almost 20 years, and has attended about half of the prior festivals, but this will be his first time sharing Liu Seong Gung Fu during the event.

This seminar will take place all day on Saturday, November 6^th and Sunday, November 7^th, and is open to anyone who is interested. Along with the school’s page linked above, there’s a Facebook event page.

Edit on Sep 2, 2010: I’ve changed the link in the first paragraph to the proper website, instead of the Facebook page.

Upcoming seminar: Bushi No Te 2010

Erik Harris — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 01:38:17 +0000

Erik has the privilege of being invited to teach at the 27^th annual Bushi No Te martial arts seminar. This will be his ninth time attending, and his seventh or eighth time teaching a session. Bushi No Te is an organization of martial arts enthusiasts who share their love of their arts with each other. It takes place in the middle of August every year in the Pennsylvania Pocono resort area. CIMAC students are encouraged to attend next year’s seminar. It will help broaden your understanding of the martial arts, and you’ll gain a number of good friends.

Joe Salomone Seminar, May 1st

Erik Harris — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 03:58:45 +0000

Chinese-Indonesian Martial Arts Seminar with Joe Salomone

On Saturday, May 1^st, Mr. Joe Salomone will be sharing this unique blend of Southern Chinese Gung Fu and Indonesian Pentjak Silat that was taught by Grandmaster Willem Reeders (Liu Seong). Mr. Salomone began his training in these internal self-defense arts in 1973 under the late Grandmaster Art Sikes. To further enhance his knowledge, he became an amateur boxer from 1977 to 1984, using his training in the ring. He was a five time Nevada State Golden Glove and ABF boxing champion, and in 1981, was selected to represent the USA in International Boxing competition while training at the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado. Mr. Salomone earned his Orange Sash in 1980, and his Red Sash in 1994. Martial artists of all levels of experience and styles are welcome at this seminar.

Details

When: Saturday, May 1^st, 2010 11:00 AM – 3:00 PM	Where: Lee District RECenter Multipurpose Room 6601 Telegraph Rd Alxandria, VA
Cost: $50 / person, paid to Erik Harris at the seminar (not at RECenter front desk).

If you’re a Facebook user, you can also visit the Facebook event page, and RSVP there.

If you want a hard-copy advertisement, you can download this promotional flier.

Joe Salomone is among the very best martial artists I’ve had the privilege of working with. I’ve known him since 1996, and became his student in March 2005. I’ve met people with years more experience than Mr. Salomone whose understanding of and ability to teach martial arts do not match his. His martial arts training has clearly been among the best available, and he has an intuitive understanding of how to relate to people and teach them how to move. I truly believe that practitioners of any art can gain something from training with him, and may even learn something about their own art.

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Directions

The Lee District RECenter is located within the Lee District Park, just off of Telegraph Rd, across from Rose Hill Dr. The park is just south of I-495, accessible from the Telegraph Rd exit.

The Multipurpose room is located downstairs. After going down the stairs, head down the hallway to the left. The Multipurpose room is the last room on the right just before the gymnasium. The men’s locker room is between the stairs and the multipurpose room. The women’s locker room is just past the stairs in the other direction.

The RECenter normally charges admission to non-members who are not registered for classes, but because this is a paid seminar event using rented space, no admission fee should be paid to the front desk, and the seminar fee should be paid to Erik prior to training.

No class Tuesday, December 22nd

Erik Harris — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:20:18 +0000

Fairfax County has closed schools through Wednesday due to the excessive snow this weekend, and the RECenter goes on the school schedule for registered classes. Unfortunately, this means that tomorrow’s class will be canceled.

Our next class will be the Tuesday after Christmas. If you celebrate, have a Merry Christmas. If you don’t, enjoy the long weekend!

Pre-Winter 2009 and Winter 2010 Quarters

Erik Harris — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:12:08 +0000

The details for our Pre-Winter mini-session and Winter quarter have been released and posted on the home page and the Class Info

Unfortunately, in this tough economy, organizations like Fairfax County Parks Authority are struggling to keep afloat, and while I’m happy to see that the price for next quarter’s class has not changed, I did notice that the out-of-county surcharge has increased from $10 to $15. This comes close on the heels of last quarter’s reduction of the early enrollment discount from $10 to $8. I apologize to my students and potential students who don’t live in Fairfax County for this added charge. As you know, these fees are out of my hands, but in the current economy, which has caused a number of budget shortfalls in the county, I hope you understand why the county feels this change is necessary.