Sunday 1 March the masters Shi Rong Hua, Marcello Sidoti and Gianfranco Pace did an internship together, two hours each to propose fragments of the form, exercises and applications…it was memorable.
It's not every day that you get to see the different approaches of three masters in a single stage, three research paths, three different ways to train, tre diversi Gongfu..
It was like putting Taiji under three headlights and illuminating it from different angles to see every detail better.
The root is common, It dates back to when no one felt worthy of being called a master, not even Hua, Since then a lot of water has flowed under the bridge, they parted ways, rightly, as the ancient proverb says: a tree with a hundred flowers, and today it's nice to meet up to listen, learn and play together, see what others do and show what we can do.
In the world of teachers and schools everyone wants to say that their Taiji is a little better than that of others, stay there, it's always a bit like that, but that doesn't take away from the magic of seeing three martial artists, who have intertwined their paths over thirty or forty years of practice, who are committed to sharing an internship, share their teachings and introduce their students.
It's difficult to summarize, indeed impossible. For me, a student of master Shi Rong Hua, this internship made me better understand the characteristics of my master's path, the search for the center, the strength that comes from relaxation, powerful, sudden and unexpected, eradicate without using force, without using speed, in the wake traced by the succession of masters, in the living root of Taiji, in the practice of training capable of changing body and mind, authentic and uncompromising.
But I believe that all those who participated in this internship took home a more precise vision of the direction in which their teacher is leading them.
At certain levels you can't talk about who is better or who is worse, each of the three masters expressed precision in every movement, the naturalness and effectiveness of figures performed tens of thousands of times, nor can we speak of greater or lesser personal harmony with one or another teacher because it is obvious that it is for one's own.
Instead, a very important thing is to better understand the path traced by one's master because the path of Taiji is neither simple nor clear., this was the fruit of this shared internship, the comparison manages to enlighten each other, and it made me see my master's path better, which is also the path I am taking with him.
I believe that the students of Marcello and Gianfranco can also say this same thing about their teacher.
I hope that with this awareness we can free ourselves from the natural logic of competition between schools that hinder events like this because it was a wonderful opportunity and I really hope that it can be repeated in the coming years to be able to add a few more pieces to the never-ending puzzle of our Taiji.
