Taiwan’s Meimen Kungfu Art Troupe has high aspirations. They don’t merely wish to entertain with stellar martial arts, acrobatic, sword play, music, song, dance and magic, but they also want to teach their audience how to cultivate inner harmony. Their July 22 performance in the Koret Auditorium of the San Francisco Main Library was a thrilling feast for the senses, while the second part of the program was more reflective, offering a brief course on the practice of Qigong.
Yemila Alvarez, the library’s director of programming, welcomed the troupe and the 400-plus audience, which also included a kindergarten class as well. Manfred Peng, the director of the Press Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in San Francisco, also welcomed the audience. On behalf of TECO, he introduced the troupe and talked briefly about the practice of Qigong.
Qigong is an ancient Chinese health-preserving exercise that has existed for at least 2,000 years. As practitioners of Qigong, all the performers in the Meimen Kungfu Art Troupe at one time or another have experienced ailments that were helped by Qigong.
Founded by Master Lee Feng-san in Taiwan, he and his troupe dedicate themselves to spreading the beauty of martial arts and to achieve harmony between external form and internal energy (aka chi) through the practice of Qigong.
Besides San Francisco, the troupe’s tour includes Orlando, Houston, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle and Vancouver, Canada.