Shaolin Show

Last Saturday, I went to see the Shaolin Warriors perform. I’ve been a martial arts student for a significant portion of my life, and I was very interested to see their technique. In their program, they had not only students from the school in New Orleans, but experts from the Shaolin Temple itself.

The sound was basically a dialogue from a young man who is lost in the ghetto of New Orleans but finds his way to enlightenment by learned the ways of the Shaolin Warriors. The story takes him and his friends to China, where they learn impressive tricks from students there.

The actual performances were very impressive, and it was obvious that these young people had immense skill. The New Orleans group of students particularly impressed me, as did the youngest group, which was between about 6 and 8 years old. These children knew the meaning of discipline at such a young age. They also showed extensive command over their movements, which is very difficult at an age where motor development is still occuring. The older students were in their teens. They were of multiple racial backgrounds, and they showed all kinds of different unique skills. No two fighters fought the same way, each had molded his technique to fit his particular style. Amongst the Chinese warriors, we saw men of all ages performing with all kinds of weapons- Psis, Nunchucks with an extra bar in between, swords, bos, and even brooms at times.

The show was certainly worth seeing- y’all check them out sometime!