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World Taiji Boxing Association Camp '98Article by Eddie SidesBack to ContentsThe sixth annual WTBA camp was held at the Mt Warning Holiday Park in northern New South Wales, Australia. The camp consisted of two weeks of training in Taijijuan, Baguazhang, and the Wudang Shan Qi Disruptive Forms under the instruction of Master Erle Montaigue, who is internationally known for his expertise in these internal martial arts. About seventy people attended, including instructors and senior students from all corners of Australia, four Kiwis and keen people from France, Holland, England, and USA. The camp went very smoothly, and for me provided a complete break away from telephones, TV, newspapers (and of course work!), with minimum distractions from the business of training and relaxing. The days were warm and sunny and the nights were cool, and there was plenty of good food, fresh air and physical exercise. The only hazard was the occasional leech, tick, or biting ant! I arrived at the end of the first week in time for the camp concert, where those attending the camp got to display their talents in the entertainment field. Luckily, there actually was some talent! On Saturday I started catching up on what Erle had taught in the first week and meeting the people that I hadn't already met at the '97 camp. On Sunday most of the group trucked off to Byron Bay to the beach and markets. The rest of the week was spent training. Each day begun at 7am with the old-style Yang Lu-chan Taiji form led by Erle, followed by some corrections. This form was created by the founder of the Yang style, and differs from the all-slow form popularised by Yang Cheng-fu in that it is more intricate and contains explosive 'fa-jing' movements as well as slow movements. The next session (8-9am) was spent learning Qi Disruptive Forms, three of which were covered at the camp. Erle travelled to China in 1995 and became the first westerner to learn the full set of nine forms of this very old style, which is still practiced today by a small group at Wudang Shan under Master Liang Shih-kan. The nine forms teach internal body movement and dim-mak striking methods, and each contains a method for disrupting an attacker's Qi to add effect to a follow-up strike. Following this session was breakfast, then from 10-11am we continued the Qi Disruptive Forms. From 11am to midday we covered push hands and da lu. After lunch most of the group worked on the Bagwa Linear Form of Chiang Jung-chiao, a student of the famous Master Sun Luc-tang. This form is thought to be the longest in any martial art, and is learnt once the original Bagwa Dragon Form and circle-walking methods are mastered. The rest of the afternoon was free. People gathered again in the evening for informal practice before dinner, and after dinner there was talking around the campfire. The camp was a great opportunity to train with a diverse group of people all sharing an enthusiasm for the internal martial arts. By the end, everybody was physically tired and mentally saturated with new information, but also refreshed and a little more advanced along the path of the martial arts. Authors background: Eddie Sides began training in the martial arts in 1986 and has been studying Taiji and Bagwa under Annie Blackman and Erle Montaigue for the past four years. For more information please contact Annie Blackman on 09 372 5257.
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