This summer the weather was brutal in St. Louis. The daily temperature broke a few records. Last week, St. Louisians got a break and the weather was gorgeous and extremely pleasant. Over the weekend, even though the high was in high 80’s or 90 degrees but with low humidity, it was a perfect weather for outdoor activities and events. It was estimated 125,000 people came to the Tower Grove Park and celebrated the Festival of Nations on Aug 28th and 29th.
For 90 years, the International Institute of St. Louis has been working hard to make St. Louis a more diverse city and a better community for immigrants. The annual Festival of Nations is its signature promotion program which is the largest cross culture event in the region and sponsored by PNC Bank, Missouri Arts Council, Regional Arts Commission, Webster University, and Wells Fargo Advisors.
To promote culture diversity and the healing art of Tai Chi, Sifu Ming Busalacki has participated in this event for a few years. This year she and her students Connie Zhao, Jim Oswald, Judy Zhao, Paul Reed, and Willy Kindle joined the celebration event and performed Chen Style Tai Chi which won applauses from the audience.
Chen Style Tai Chi is the origin of the modern Tai Chi and is known for its softness as well as hardness. It is a mixture of the slow movements along with fast punching, kicking, and jumping. It is very entertaining even for non-practitioners.
The Saturday Tai Chi performance had a combination of hand forms along with weapon forms. This year Paul entered three Tai Chi tournaments (18th Great Lack Kung Fu Championships, Shorin Ryn Pro-Am Tournament, and 2010 AAU National Tai Chi Championships) and won awards in the categories of Tai Chi Hand Form and Tai Chi Dao (Broad Sword). Connie also won trophies for Tai Chi Dao and Tai Chi Straight Sword competitions in Shorin Ryn Pro-Am Tournament. During the Saturday Festival of Nations, Paul and Connie demonstrated Tai Chi Dao together. Connie also performed Tai Chi Straight Sword. Judy Zhao, a certified Tai Chi instructor, participated in the group performance of Tai Chi 37 Form and 45 Form. She also did a solo of her specialty of Tai Chi Fan. Both Jim and Willy are Tai Chi practitioners as well as martial art instructors. They joined the Tai Chi hand forms performances.
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