45 Years On: The Authenticity of Enter the Dragon

Enter the Dragon shook the martial arts world in the early 1970's. Suddenly Karate schools offered Kung Fu and the cliched karate chop was substituted by the a series of Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons. But has there been a more valuable legacy than yet more commercialisation of the East?

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It's forty five years ago that I first sneaked into a cinema to watch an 'X' rated film. Believe me, it took some sneaking. I was only 15 and looked about 11. But I got in with the help of my older brother convincing the ticket seller that I was just short for my age. 
Other than my brother, accompanying me that evening was a smuggled portable tape player under my coat. I chose to sit at the front of the cinema, so that I could record the entire soundtrack on a C120 cassette tape. An early pirate you may rightly shout. But I had my reasons. 

The quality of the recording was appalling. But it was not for commercial sale, nor to upload to Pirate Bay. It was for my younger brother who, like me, was equally obsessed with Kung Fu, and who, three years younger than me, would never have made it past the ticket office. 
It marked the beginning of a long journey. I had already started Judo classes at the local Judokwai, but after seeing Enter the Dragon I knew everything had to change. For until that moment, I had only seen the more traditional approaches to martial arts: Judo, Karate, Ju Jitsu, Boxing. Now, I knew there was something else. Something that had never been mentioned in books by Mas Oyama or John F. Gilby.
I knew because I had seen an unforgettable display of authenticity. Now, of course, it all appears cliché. But now, is 45 years later.

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The Spirit of Bruce Lee

Inspired by that very soundtrack - my younger brother and I strolled, sparred, bunny-hopped and leap-frogged our way through a multitude of martial arts grading systems over the ensuing years, convinced that we had collectively inherited - if not absorbed through the acquisition of so many posters, sound tracks and home made nunchaku -  some of the Little Dragon's spirit.

And perhaps we had. For we took with us a looseness - not just of the karate gi that seemed destined to always become entangled in class tumbles - but one of adherence. We left karate to flirt with Taekwondo, then back again to another karate style, before I later moved on to fencing, painting-by-numbers, Wing Chun, Salsa, Aikido and eventually Tai Chi. 

An Uncertain agenda

I could never settle for a single approach. Perhaps it was the weekly stomach-kicking sessions we received whilst kneeling on the floor during our Shotokan training. The aim - we were told -  was to breathe out with the blow, somehow using the muscles of the stomach to protect the delicate contents within.. It was a logic that eluded me then, as now. Worse, many karateka cannot aim an accurate blow at the abdomen, instead kicking wildly at the solar plexus or even the shoulder or hip of the person seated next to me.
Perhaps it was the drop-knuckle push ups on the concrete floor to develop the callouses that I found particularly anachronistic. In truth, all styles had their questionable elements. If we were sensible, we would have been more selective, and less devotional. It was a hard lesson to learn in the 1970's atmosphere of allegiance and confidentiality. 

The Luxury of Looseness

But now, after more or less exclusively working with the various styles of Tai Chi for the last 25 years, I still find myself changing with the seasons. I still swap between Cheng's form, Dr. Chi's or W.C.C. Chen's, Wen Lin Jun's or whoever else I have stumbled across in recent years. 
Consequently, my students often end up confused, even at times exasperated. But they have come to recognise something in me - that I am as restless as an 'Intercepting Fist.' 
I still find the rigidity of styles claustrophobic.

The tendency for allegiance

To counter the tendency of allegiance, I learnt sword from a guy over from Hong Kong for a short stay in London. I learnt the Cane Form from a friend of a friend of a friend, and my push-hands is as derivative of Wu rather than that of Yang. I practice Silk reeling from Chen and even (yes...I will openly admit) some of my warm-ups come from the years I worked as a fitness instructor at a martial arts centre in South London. Why? Funny you should ask....

PATHS
Because there is no single path, we must ultimately walk our own. Each of us is a hybrid, a fusion and mesh-up of all we have known and experienced. If not, why not? And no, I am not talking about Yoga-Lates or Qi Jogging...please, give me some credit. 

I teach Tai Chi - with a distinctive Teapot Flavour - using all the wisdom and advice received from all the teachers I have had the good fortune to train under. Teachers from all walks of life that is - inside and outside the dojo. teachers who wore their suits with pride, others who refused to don such silly garments. But I do not emulate them. I do not attempt to mirror their classes, their clothing or their haircuts. I do not reach out for the same stars as they did. Nor do I speak the same words they spoke. 

The more honest you are with yourself, the more authentic will be your teaching. This doesn't always equate with effectiveness, but thats another debate altogether. 

Authenticity I had tasted, sitting in that front row of that cinema 45 years ago. This is what I had tried to explain to my younger brother as we listened intensely to the crackle of the tape deck late into the evening back in 1973. 

Yes the "fight with the guards was truly magnificent", but it was not the speed of Lee's footwork, nor the Ohara fight with the bottles, nor the nightmares that Bolo left me with, that held substance. It was the honesty and rawness of expression with all it's idiosyncrasies and traits leaking off the screen that I found had accompanied home that evening.  Thanks for that Bruce. 

More on Bruce Lee?

• What  happens when the cast of Enter the Dragon can't come to an agreement about who gets the main billing on the poster?
• What happens when Bruce Lee offers a weekend Jeet Kune DO workshop and the only people who turn up are Carl Jung, Piglet and Dr Who?
• What happens when Bruce Lee won't put down his nunchaku on the psychoanalytic couch?

Learn more here about the book One Last Thing