english teacher fighting to learn - augustus john roe...vietnamese martial arts can reveal more...

22 Vieät Nam News vietnamnews.vn Thursday February 21, 2019EXPAT CORNERUPCOMING EVENTS

Expat Corner is a space where expats can sharetheir experiences of Vieät Nam or events for the calendar

and reach out to one another in the thriving expatcommunity, so please email your stories or listings to

life@vnsmail.com by Wednesday. The stories will runevery Thursday.

Music from shy and sophisticated souls The shy and sophisticated electro-acoustic composer Löông

Hueä Trinh will present her ethereal and vibrant music during aconcert on Saturday at Hanoi Rock City.

The concert will also feature young music talents includingTiny Giant (vocal-electro), Haø Thu Haèng (zither), Nguyeãn ThuøyDung (zither), and Jet Ilagan (sound artist), who will take theaudience on a journey with rich, interesting sounds that willexpand your imagination.

The concert will start at 9pm at Hanoi Rock City, 27/52 ToâNgoïc Vaân Street, Taây Hoà District. Ticket at door is VNÑ70,000.

Sweden’s Gustaf Sjokvist Choir in Haø Noäi One of the best chamber choirs in Sweden – the Gustaf

Sjokvist, will put on a special performance at Haø Noäi’s Cöûa BaécChurch next Tuesday.

Founded in 1994 in Stockholm, Gustaf Sjokvist ChamberChoir (GSKK) is an independent choir consisting of 33 singers.Known for its sound, which is described as typical “Nordic”, thechoir has since been a significant part of Swedish musical life.The choir is devoted to contemporary music and has over theyears built up a wide repertoire in this field. Their repertoirefeatures not only works by famous classic composers such asBach, Mozart and Brahms, but also folk music and jazz. Thechoir’s maestro Gustaf Sjokvist passed away in 2015, and from2018 Florian Benfer is the artistic leader. The ensemble hasmade several tours in Scandinavia, Europe, Africa, NorthAmerica and Asia.

FVH workshop gets crafty The Friends of Vietnam Heritage (FVH) will host a craft-

making workshop on Sunday.Vietnamese people have long made wall and door

decorations from paper for special events, including the Teátholiday. Workshop participants will be guided on how tomake New Year decorations for doors, windows, walls andtables, combining different patterns such as flowers, leavesand animals using kirigami.

Kirigami is the Japanese art of paper cutting, a variation oforigami, which is favoured by many people around the world.Kirigami includes cutting the paper rather than just folding,and utilises different techniques.

The workshop will take place at Toå Chim Xanh (Bluebirds’Nest Book Cafeù), No 13, Alley 19, Ñaëng Dung Street, Ba ÑìnhDistrict, Haø Noäi, from 1:30 to 4:30pm. The cost will beVNÑ250,000 for each adult and VNÑ100,000 for each childunder 15. The maximum number of participants is 15. RSVPcan be made via email at phuonganhnguyen15@gmail.com.

The instructor is an elderly maths teacher who is skilledin the art of paper cutting and traditional crafts. He willinstruct in Vietnamese, and English translation will beprovided.

Saxophonist Katsura Yamauchi to perform Saxophonist Katsura Yamauchi will perform from 6pm to

8pm on March 16 at Salon Saigon on 6d Ngoâ Thôøi Nhieäm Streetin HCM City’s District 3.

Katsura picked up his first saxophone in the early 1970s and wasquickly drawn to modern jazz, avant-garde and free improvisation.

Before 2003, he was relatively unknown, but has now shownhimself to be one of the most unique musicians in Japan.

He has toured the US and Europe, and performed at manyfestivals such as Musique Innovatrices 2005, Castello Canalis2007, Beppu Contemporary Art Festival 2008, Ftarri Festival2008, AmplifyFestival 2008and AsianMeeting Festival2009.

Tickets arefrom VNÑ200,000to VNÑ300,000.— VNS

English teacher fighting to learnBy Leâ Höông

T r a d i t i o n a lV i e t n a m e s emartial arts canreveal more about localhistory, culture andlanguage to foreignersdaring enough to try them.

Augustus John Roe,from Brighton, the UK, iscertainly daring.

Over the past nine years,he has lived in Vieät Nam,fathered two daughters inhis happy family, found astable job as an Englishteacher at an internationalschool in Haø Noäi and gath-ered a comprehensive stockof knowledge on Vietnam-ese martial arts and culture.

Roe first came to thecountry in 2010 to visit afriend, who worked as anEnglish teacher and prac-tised Tai Chi. He started tostudy, too.

Roe has tried variousstyles of Vietnamese mar-tial arts over the years, in-cluding vovinam, BìnhÑònh regional martial arts,traditional wrestling, NhaátNam style, Nam Hoàng Sônstyle and Seven Mountainsregion martial arts.

“They all have interest-ing and unique aspects butmy favourite style has to bethe one I learnt from mymaster - a Buddhist martialart from the Seven Moun-tains region in An GiangProvince called Böûu SônPhaät Moân Quyeàn whichtranslates as ‘Dharma Moun-tain Martial Arts’,” he toldVieät Nam News.

“I trained intensivelywith my teacher for sixyears, before he movedwith his family to the USA,so now I continue to trainand teach on my own.”

While learning differ-ent styles of martial arts,Roe realised that althoughnumerous and varied, therewas very little informationabout them available, and

virtually nothing in English.He decided to compile

a book, The Martial Arts ofVietnam - An Overview ofthe History and Style, whichtook him nearly two yearsto finish.

The main difficulty hefaced when writing thebook was during the initialresearch phase was the lackof English materials on thesubject. Often he wouldhave just the name of a vil-lage or person, then hewould go there and askaround until someone couldpoint him in the right direc-tion.

The book looks at Viet-namese styles based onthree regions, the north,central and southern region.

“Historically, therehave been lots of differentinfluences in each region sothe diversity in practicesfrom location to location isvery interesting,” he said.

Roe found that Viet-namese martial arts areunique for several reasons.

“Firstly the environ-ment has played a big rolein their development, dueto aspects like the moun-tainous terrain and thick for-ests, movements often ap-pear less-linear than in otherstyles of Chinese or Japa-nese martial arts,” he said.

“Secondly, the physi-cality of the practitionershas been an important fac-

tor. Vietnamese styles areoften very dynamic with alot of high jumps and lowstances. This makes thingsmore difficult for practitio-ners like me who have aweight advantage but don’thave the speed of a smallerbody-type.

“Finally, the culturaland historical aspects ofVietnamese martial arts aredifferent - patriotism and re-ligious aspects all combineto create a unique martialculture,” he said.

Roe drew the lessonsbased on his experiencepractising various martialarts such as judo and taekwondo at a young age.

Then at university hecontinued with some Chi-nese styles of kung fu.

Roe said he practisesevery day on his own,teaches self-defenceclasses for young womenand regularly joins compe-titions and sparring ex-changes to keep his skillssharp.

“One of the most impor-tant things I have learntthrough studying martialarts is patience,” he said. “Iused to be quite short-tem-pered when I was young, solearning to be calm and col-lected was a challenge forme at first. Other importantaspects include dedication,focus and just learning tostay healthy and in good

shape.”Roe said he loves living

in Haø Noäi, but the pollutionand disregard for the envi-ronment are problems.

“Although things areimproving at a tremendousspeed and with many newprogrammes focused on theenvironment, I hope this issomething that can beimplemented on a society-wide scale,” he said.

Vietnamese nature isone of his favourite aspectsof the country, followedclosely by the coffee cul-ture.

“I love nothing morethan being in the mountainsor the countryside on asunny day,” he said. “I amalso very interested in thehistory of Vieät Nam - par-ticularly the warrior spirit -that remains strong and per-meates many aspects ofVietnamese culture today.”

Roe said he hopes tocontinue his training inVietnamese martial arts andkeep spreading the prac-tices.

“I am also going to re-lease an action-adventurenovel called Where TigersRoam,” he said.

“It is set in the border-highlands of Vieät Nam andChina and features martialarts as an important themeof the story - hopefully,this will inspire readerstoo!” — VNS

Flying high: Roe practises every day on his own. — Photos courtesy of Augustus John Roe

Toe to toe:Roe (left)spars with astudent oftraditionalVietnameseWing Chun.