Choy Gar (Choy Gau Lee )

[Hansson]

My girlfriend is interested in taking Kung Fu and in our town we have a club teaching a style called Choy Gar. I've tried to do a little research about this but can't find anything (except the info on the club page), neither on the web or in any forums. I'm pretty sure the club and the sifu is 'serious' (no McDojo!) but I think it's strange I can't find any info about this.

In the short description on Choy Gar on the club page it says it was founded by Choy Gau Lee in southern China. It has low stances and a footwork inspired by the rat while the arms and the upper body follows the pattern of the snake.

The club homepage and info

If anyone has any info or thoughts about this I'd appreciate it!

 

[theneuhauser]

ive never heard of it either. there is a choy li fut and a hung gar, but thats a new one to me. go talk to the instructor and ask him about his system and his/her lineage. if its a new system thats ok, just make sure that the instructor has had a lot of solid instruction and then decide if its right for you. it cant be a mcdojo if its not a franchise organization, but thats not really the issue. the question is whether or not the school has a something worthwhile for the two of you to spend your time and money.

tell your girlfriend that its better to wait for a good instructor than to waste your time with a bad one.

 

[arnisador]

There is also Chow Gar, Southern Praying Mantis.

I can't get the web site to come up.

 

[theneuhauser]

yeah, that sounds close too. but none of those arts typically use the snake fist, so im still thinking.....

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by theneuhauser

yeah, that sounds close too. but none of those arts typically use the snake fist, so im still thinking.....

Yeah, me too! I emailed the Sifu of that school to get a little info from him. I'm waiting to hear back from him.

7sm

 

[Hansson]

Please get back to us if you get a reply..!

 

[arnisador]

Is this the same as the phoenix-eye fist, with a single knuckle out (the index finger), or is it the one with the knuckles of the first two fingers out?

 

[theneuhauser]

neither,

snake fist is typically an open palm. like leopard, but with the whole hand. sometimes, for power, the middle finger rides on top of the index and ring fingers. you basically poke with the finger tips. it seems potentially self hazardous to me, but ive only used that fist in practice and in 2 forms. the trick is rapid attacks to the soft spots on the body. (throat, eyes, diaphragm, nerve clusters, etc.)

 

[arnisador]

That's what I think of when I think snake. I was confused by the use of 'fist'--I know they are referred to in that way by some but personally I find it confusing in English!

 

[theneuhauser]

in mandarin they call it she quan, it means snake fist or boxing, for some reason snake fist sounds better than snake boxing dont you agree?

 

[arnisador]

A snake coiled up at me in our yard the other day while I was picking a few weeds. I had seen it before and knew it had taken up residence in our shrubs. I took the ancient and honourable weapon known in English as the hoe--an actual kung fu weapon, as many of you will know--and reduced my problem to one featuring an equivalent number of half-snakes. Boxing didn't help it.

 

[Hansson]

I found a post by the Choy Gar sifu on a Swedish genealogy (!) site. In short he says Choy Gar is one of five family styles from south China (together with Hung Gar, Li Gar Mok Gar, Lau Gar). It has some common techniques and practices with Hung Gar but not much.

The sifu is born in Peru and started training in Perus Chinatown. He trained there for 13 years before moving to Sweden.

My girlfriend will go there tonight for the first time and I'm probably more excited about it than she is...

 

[7starmantis]

So how did she like the class? Did everyhting go good? What do you think of the style ?

 

[Hansson]

She's been there twice now and is going to continue attending. It's a mixed class (about 25 people, pretty large group unfortunately) so it seems she has to follow on what they are doing at the moment, but that doesn't seem to be a problem. I'm impressed how much she has learnt already actually... = )

It would be nice having a reference of some kind, a book or compendium, because she doesn't pick up the names of the techniques and doesn't always (maybe a little early to discuss 'always' of course) understand what she's doing... but I guess that will come with time.

The Sifu seems to be a passionate, serious guy with a lot of humour. He's one of the leading Kung Fu personalities in Sweden apparently and is arguing against the new Sanshou rules (kind of a traditionalist).

 

[7starmantis]

Sounds good, I'm always eager to train with someone who is passionate about it!