T’ai chi, the multifaceted Chinese exercise, has become quite mainstream in the forty years since Great River T’ai Chi began offering classes in Minneapolis. Great River T’ai Chi has offered classes at all levels in the Twin Cities since 1979, sharing it with thousands of students.
To celebrate their 40th anniversary, Great River T’ai Chi is holding a free Open House, Sunday, September 8, from 6:00–8:00 p.m. at St. Luke's Episcopal Church, 4557 Colfax Ave South, in Minneapolis, near Lake Harriet. The evening will feature a performance of traditional Chinese guzheng music by Jarrelle Barton, a recipient of the Minnesota Emerging Composer Award and an Anderson Center residency. This will be followed by t’ai chi demonstrations, refreshments, and movies.
Study after study has shown T'ai Chi's health benefits for balance, walking, posture, and relaxation. “T’ai chi is the perfect antidote for modern life. It’s an intriguing practice that is part wellness exercise, part mindfulness, and part martial art,” explained founder and director Barbara Davis. “We like to focus on how to use its principles of relaxation and alignment in daily life.”
“T’ai chi has taken us around the world,” Davis explained. Both teachers studied with a master in Taiwan, as well as in Colorado and New York City with followers of the famous artist and t’ai chi master Cheng Man-ch’ing (1902–1975). Davis went on to study Chinese language and history, authoring two books on t’ai chi ch’uan (also known as taijiquan) and editing the quarterly Taijiquan Journal.
Davis and her associate Cheryl Powers have also taught at the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, Minnesota State University in Mankato, the Minnesota College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (now part of Northwestern Health Sciences University), Tasks Unlimited, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Honeywell, Target, Minnesota Nursing Association, and YWCAs of Duluth, Minneapolis, and Mankato.
For more information, visit http://www.greatrivertaichi.wordpress.com
