Ivy

Ivy became a national sportsperson in her last year in college. She was a promising Changquan player of the Asia Games. However, her trainer in Beijing thought she was better at Taichiquan. Thus, she started her practice back then.

After ten years of Taichichuan practice, she got to learn Taichi-dowing as well. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre’s famous performance, Moon Water, inspired her.

Moon Water was first brought on stage in 1998. Its dance moves were based on Taichi-dowing, which was created by well known Taichiquan master Xiong Wei. “It is really beautiful,” she said, “I wanted to learn it the moment I saw it. I first learned about Taichi-dowing in a news report. I had been practicing Taichiquan for ten years, but never heard about Taichi-dowing before.”

Ivy is currently a Taichi-dowing teacher, and she is also a national coach and judge.

As the proverb goes, “don’t practice Taichi when you are young, and don’t practice Shaolin when you are old.” Senior people may easily get injured if they try to practice Shaolin, which is too strong and dynamic for the body. However, Taichi does not have any age limit as long as the practitioners can focus and be calm. Older people can even understand more deeply about it.

Ivy thinks that dancing and martial arts usually have their age limit, but Taichi practice does not get tougher as people get older. You can practice it until you are eighty or ninety to keep a strong body and a young heart.