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DVD REVIEW: by Vincent Giordano
Tom Bisio's new three DVD set on Ba Gua concepts is a clear, coherent and well produced presentation of this intriguing internal art.
Tom's in depth martial arts and healing background that includes his training extensively in China, teaching, running his well established acupuncture clinic in NYC and co-authoring the excellent companion volume to this series The Essentials of Ba Gua Zhang with Master Gao Ji Wu, allows him to infuse this series with a clear, practical progression that is applicable to both beginners and advanced practitioners.
The series benefits greatly from Tom's honest, straightforward aesthetic, which cuts through the often subtle, abstract and arcane elements that seem to define Ba Gua to arrive at a welcomed clarity and understanding that only comes from years of hard work not only as a student but as a teacher.
What I liked most about the series was the practical applications and demonstrations of how to use the movements contained within the forms. Tom decodes the movements expertly then gives the viewer a chance to absorb the actual application in several variations.
The DVD's offer a wealth of information and can easily be an entry level set for the beginner who wishes to learn more about Ba Gua in a functional, practical sense, for the practitioner already training in the system or the advanced student wishing to gain more skill, depth and understanding possibly of a system different or similar to his own.
I always personally appreciate a teacher who works hard to understand a system from the inside out. There is a tremendous amount of hard work that goes into learning systems across cultural boundaries. Tom has done an excellent job not only with the DVD's but his wonderful series of books.
The DVD itself has a well-defined menu that allows the viewer to easily navigate to an index, more resources, lineage and some additional information of form.
******See Vincent's excellent DVD set on ancient Bare Knuckle Muay Thai featuring General Amnat Pooksrisuk:
Ancient Bare Knuckle Seminar Vol 1 http://www.ancientmuay.com
Ancient Bare Knuckle Seminar Vol 2 http://www.bareknucklemuay.com
