Turning Silk: A Diary of Chen Taiji Practice, the Quan of Change - Softcover

Kinthissa

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0956284604 ISBN 13: 9780956284600

Publisher: Lunival, 2009

Synopsis

The world of TaijiQuan changed in the 1980s with the opening up of mainland China. Two barely known themes fundamental to the training began to emerge: ZhanZhuang, the standing qigong, and Chansigong, the technique of twining silk. This book documents an old-timer's plunge into this new world.

About this title

About the Author

Kinthissa was born in Rangoon in 1952. She studied Far Eastern art and philosophy at Vassar College, New York, and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. In London she encountered the TaijiQuan she had glimpsed as a child on her way to school. She was apprenticed for 10 years to Gerda Geddes, pioneer teacher in the UK of Yang Style TaijiQuan. From 1977 to 1995, Kinthissa taught Yang Style 108 Form, mainly in London and Basel. Between 1982 and 1989 she worked with students at the London Contemporary Dance School to find ways for them to regenerate energy and maintain awareness during strenuous training. In 1995, she met Chen XiaoWang, the leading exponent of Chen Style TaijiQuan. The years of study with him have given her a lifetime's practice to deepen the meaning of TaijiQuan. She teaches in England, Greece, Iceland, Italy and Spain.

Review

Kinthissa's book offers a rare, and much needed, glimpse into a rigorous internal practice, a way of being aware of the body's inner landscape and the micro-movement that is the foundation of all movement. Through the pages of her book, Kinthissa guides the reader with patience and precision as she speaks about the most intimate and fundamental nature of the body, with the love and respect that comes from exhaustive involvement with its inner workings through meticulous observation.

We can follow step by step her thought processes as she tracks events and impressions throughout the daily-ness of her practice. Her writing is filled with beautifully articulate accounts of inner movement. Her use of image and metaphor gives elusive states an understandable materiality.

--Dance Research, the Journal of the Society for Dance Research, Vol.28, No.2, November 2010

Edition details

• Publisher: Lunival
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0956284604
• ISBN 13: 9780956284600
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224