Great River T'ai Chi Ch'uan in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, founded in 1979, is one of the oldest t'ai chi ch'uan (taijiquan) groups in the American Upper Midwest. Great River is led by Barbara Davis and Cheryl Powers, both of whom have trained in Taiwan and the United States with senior students of the late Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing, including Maggie Newman, Ed Young, and since 1986, Mr. Liu Hsi-heng of Taipei, and workshops with . They have also worked with numerous other students of Professor Cheng's including Ben Lo, Robert Smith, Jane Faigao, Bataan Faigao, Natasha Gorky Young, Wolfe Lowenthal, Tao Ping-siang, Judyth Weaver, Ken Van Sickle, and Lorie Reinstein. Great River has regularly sponsored workshops with many of these senior teachers, and in recent years with Weiming Yuan (Taiwan) and Nathan Menaged, among others.

Barbara Davis is editor of Taijiquan Journal and author of The Taijiquan Classics: An Annotated Translation and translator of Chen Weiming's Taiji Sword. She is at work on a full-length biography of Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing. Barbara has been a presenter at A Taste of China, the Zhang Sanfeng Festival, International Forum on Taijiquan and the National Qigong Association. Cheryl Powers is on the editorial board of Taijiquan Journal has taught throughout the midwest, and written many articles about t'ai chi.

Barbara, Cheryl, and Great River senior students have taught at numerous locales, including the University of Minnesota, Macalester College, Mankato State University, Minnesota College of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (now part of Northwestern Health Sciences University), Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Tasks Unlimited, Honeywell, Hennepin County, Minneapolis Public Schools, YWCA (Minneapolis, Duluth, and Mankato), First Unitarian Society, Minnesota Jung Association, Concordia University-St. Paul, Minnesota Psychological Association, and the Minnesota Nurses Association.

For information on classes in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Twin Cities MN area, online classes, or to schedule a workshop use our contact form.

Great River T'ai Chi Ch'uan's Studio:
We meet at Grace Episcopal Church, (formerly St. Luke's) 4557 Colfax Avenue South, in Minneapolis, just east of Lake Harriet. Ample parking available. By bus and LRT: #46 (46th Street crosstown service; connects to LRT), #4 Lyndale. For schedules and information click on this button: By bike: Bryant Avenue and 46th Street both have bike lanes, as does nearby Lake Harriet.