Almost time for the annual Australia Day Parade, and the dragon to march through Melbourne’s central business district, so we’re trying to sharpen up in preparation for the march. Chinese New Year quickly follows, with more dragon dancing and kung fu demos, and so it goes.

Some PhD candidates who are working from Deakin University in Geelong also want to develop a dragon dance team, so they came out to join us in working out. and to get our guidance in how to perform with the dragons. Along with dragon play, we all had some kung fu fun as well.

Traditionally in China, kung fu practitioners often go out together after training, for a bowl of congee, or rice porridge, to socialize, talk about their training and just to relax. To put that same tradition into context in Australia, what do you get – a good ol’ fashioned barbie!

Was another great day, mixing “business” with pleasure – click here for all of the day’s highlights!

Training has begun again in 2014, not only in Wing Chun but also for dragon dancing. After a nice Christmas and New Year holiday break, it’s time to prepare for 2014, our annual march in Melbourne’s Australia Day holiday parade, and the upcoming Year of the Horse.

So we met at Albert Park Lake, home of Melbourne’s Grand Prix circuit, for a training BBQ to shake off some dragon “rust”, introduce the newbies to the nuances of dragon dancing, and to do some good old-fashioned club bonding.

The day started cloudy and cool, but by the time our dragons got in the groove, the sun came out and made for pleasant weather for our initial dragon/kung fu practice session. Good training, good people, good food, good place and good weather… what more could we have asked for?

A great day, all-around – click here to share the fun with us! If anyone else is interested in getting involved with our dragons, send us an email or give us a call – the more, the merrier!

Merry Christmas from all of us at the Qian Li Dao Academy –  our heartfelt thanks for your participation and support throughout this, our 10th year of operations; we couldn’t have reached this milestone without you! It’s been a busy and exciting year for the Academy and we hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have – sharing, training and discovering more about ourselves and our Wing Chun.

We have finished classes for this year, and will resume in the new year as follows:

• Adult classes in Werribee will resume as from Monday, 6 January 2014, and Thursday, 9 January 2014 only.
• Adult classes in Hoppers Crossing will resume as from Tuesday, 14 January 2014 – full schedule resuming this week for the Western suburbs classes.
• Bentleigh classes will resume as from Wednesday, 15 January 2014.
• Children’s classes will resume as from Monday, 3 February 2014.

Whatever your holiday plans, if you travel, please do so safely and may you share good times with good friends making great memories. We look forward to sharing, training and exploring Wing Chun again with you in the coming New Year. May 2014 bring you and yours good health, much happiness and good fortune – Happy New Year to all!!!