Dai-Sifu Allan Jensen Seminars, 28th-30th July 2006
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Having first met Dai-Sifu Allan Jensen in March 06 and experienced a small part of his knowledge & ability in WingTsun Kung-Fu, the UKKFF were eager to invite him back to London as soon as possible in order to allow more of our students access to his teaching. After some months of planning we managed to secure a three-day slot at the end of July, during which we were to run small-group tutorials and a main seminar too. Being a founder member of the World Martial Arts Alliance, it will come as no surprise to learn that Allan Jensen is an extremely talented kung-fu practicioner, however because he chooses to use the title Dai-Sifu rather than Grandmaster, few people in the UK realise just how highly-ranked he is, having studied WingTsun for 30 years. He is very happy to teach & lecture in small tutorials, and in bigger seminars works non-stop to touch hands & offer assistance to everyone present. On this occasion he was accompanied by Sifu Jorgen Riis, holder of the 4th Technician level & a private student of Dai-Sifu for over 15 years. LPH greeted them both at the airport on 28th July and whisked them off to the hotel. We were met by Escrima Concepts Chief Instructor Steve Tappin & his son Wayne, and a great evening was spent with food, drink & lots of great martial arts discussion in preparation for a weekend of training & instruction for all our students.
Small-Group Tutorials, 29th July 2006
The weekend began with three small-group tutorials at the UKKFF HQ in New Malden, each running for 2 hours and catering for students with 6th Student Grade experience or higher. Dai-Sifu had decided to start with simple concepts for structure, body alignment & correct power generation, and so with the use of diagrams and a whole host of drills & exercises the first group began to be much more aware of how to use the skeletal system instead of the muscular system to create stability within the WingTsun stances.
The next lesson provided much more detail on the three 'Seeds' of WingTsun, namely the Bong-Sao, Tan-Sao & Fook-Sao arm deformations. WingTsun is essentially a very simple system, however it is possible to create great complexity from apparent simplicity, so it is often prudent to revisit the basics and understand how lots of different techniques share the same concept. Dai-Sifu explained how almost every technique within the system could potentially be grouped into one of the above three concepts. Thus if you understand these three seeds, you understand everything that grows from them. This was a far-reaching idea, and with another set of drills & exercises our students began to train the three concepts, getting a greater understanding of how the simple things can cut through unnecessary complexity & prove very effective in application.
The final topic of the tutorials was the basic punch or Kuen-Sao, which when understood in the light of the previous structure exercises gives a whole new meeting to both explosive power & penetrative force! Dai-Sifu provided exercises for punching & stepping which required much less effort and yielded far greater rewards than any previous punching method we had seen, and we will be including these training exercises into our revised student programmes from day one. So in an amazingly short time we had been shown concepts & exercises that improved everything about our Kung-Fu, and over 30 of our students had so far managed to train them with Dai-Sifu and his assistant Sifu Riis (who proved on many instances the meaning of elastic force! :-))) What would tomorrow bring?
Main WingTsun Seminar, July 30th 2006
Students began to arrive at Kingston Arena Sports Centre at around 10.30am on Sunday morning, eager to participate in 3 hours of training, and to learn from one of the most experienced martial artists in the world today. By 11am everyone was ready, LPH introduced everyone, and Dai-Sifu began explaining his goals for the day. To begin with he provided a quick overview of the previous days small-group material so that everyone could get some benefit from the new concepts, then he began the main topic - the Siu-Nim-Tao form and the ideas contained therein. This continued the theme of structure & correct alignment, but more importantly provided an overview of each section within the SNT form, and the main idea for each one. As this form is taught from the start of every students WingTsun training, it was ideal for everyone present including the complete beginners. What a good way to begin! The seminar proceeded along a standard structure, whereby Dai-Sifu demonstrated techniques & drills to illustrate a concept, then all students split into smaller groups to train & improve at their own pace. Dai-Sifu Allan & Sifu Riis were kept very busy fielding lots of questions & providing hands-on training for everyone who made the effort to attend, and without fail, everyone who touched hands with them were amazed at the speed, power & precision of their movements. Serious no-nonsense Kung-Fu, but nobody was hurt. Both instructors had the ability & control to make anyone look very silly indeed without resorting to strikes!
In what seemed like no time at all, the three hours flew past and it was time to finish. By the end of the day everyone was excited about the improvements in their Kung-Fu, and in a very brief Q&A session the most important topic was "When are you both coming back?" Happily for us it transpired that Dai-Sifu had a very enjoyable time and is only too glad to visit the UK again as a guest of the UK Kung-Fu Federation. Further seminars will be scheduled (keep watching the news & seminars pages of this website) but whatever happens we offer a big thank-you to all the students & instructors who took part & helped make the weekend such a success.
- Author: Lee Heron
- Sources: None
