Shaolin Warriors: The Legend Continues
Educator Resource Guide
SHAOLIN WARRIORS: THE LEGEND
CONTINUES
Thursday, March 9, 2017
12:30 p.m.
Run Time: Approx. 60 minutes
Grades: 7-12
Dear Educator –
We are excited to welcome you to the 2016-17 Season, filled with engaging artistic and educational
opportunities for you and your students. Join us as we celebrate the voices of community and culture that
have the power to unite us all. As part of The Boldt Company Beyond the Stage Education Program, this
resource guide will provide you with lesson ideas to prepare your students for the upcoming performance.
Please feel free to adapt any of the activities in this guide to make them appropriate and meaningful to your
students.
Remarkable skill, stunning movement and death-defying martial arts prowess will entertain and amaze your
students as they witness the Shaolin Warriors. Masters of kung fu, these performers have trained from a very
young age to perfect their art and their performance provides a demonstration of the Chinese martial arts
culture as well as a look at the daily life of warriors and their Zen philosophy.
We look forward to recognizing each unique voice and providing a platform for expression through the arts.
From lesson ideas and professional development workshops to backstage tours, allow us to partner with you
to provide students with exciting educational opportunities!
For questions contact the education sales department (920) 730-3726 or [email protected].
INSIDE THIS GUIDE
Community Partner(s)
Welcome
3
Discover the Arts
11
Standards
4
In the Spotlight
13
About
5
Resource Room
15
Lesson Plans
6
Series Sponsor
With additional support from
WELCOME TO THE FOX CITIES P.A.C.
We are in need of an audience – are you up for the part?
THEATER ETIQUETTE
•When entering the Fox Cities Performing Arts
Center, remember to show respect for others
by waiting your turn and speaking quietly.
•Remember that while during the performance
the live performers can see and hear you. Even
the smallest sounds can be heard throughout
the theater, so it is best to remain quiet so
everyone can enjoy the performance.
•Applause is the best way to express how much
you enjoyed the performance!
•Important things to remember:
•Student backpacks, gum, drinks and
food are not allowed in the theater.
•Cell phones should be turned off and
stowed.
•Note that recording or taking photos
in the theater is strictly prohibited;
however, photos may be taken in the
lobby.
•It’s a long way down – please do not
drop items off balconies.
This study guide was created for you by the Education
Team as a part of The Boldt Company Beyond the Stage
Education program. To download copies of this study
guide or to find additional resources for this performance
or view past study guides please visit:
www.foxcitiespac.com/educators
Questions about your show reservation? Contact our
education sales team at [email protected]
or call (920) 730-3726.
INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS
ENJOY THE SHOW!
DID YOU KNOW?
Be prepared to arrive early – You should plan on arriving to the
Center 30 minutes before the show. Allow for travel time,
parking and trips to the restroom.
•Thrivent Financial Hall has a stage
larger than any Broadway theater in
New York’s infamous theater district.
Know your needs – To best serve the needs of you and your
students, please indicate in advance if you have individuals
who require special services or seating needs upon making
your reservation.
•The public women’s restrooms have
56 toilets.
Seating – Seating is based on a number of factors including
when the reservation is made, size of group, students’ ages
and any special seating needs.
•The Center is held up by an amazing
1,056,100 pounds of reinforcing steel
in concrete.
WISCONSIN ACADEMIC STANDARDS
To assist you in your planning the Wisconsin Academic Standards that are most likely to connect with this
performance are listed below.
Dance
CRITICAL THINKING: Students in Wisconsin will develop critical and creative thinking through their dance
experience.
COMMUNICATION AND EXPRESSION: Students in Wisconsin will understand the expressive power of dance as a
means of communication and understand that it is subject to multiple interpretations.
APPRECIATION: Students in Wisconsin will reflect upon and appreciate dance as an art form past and present.
MAKING CONNECTIONS: Students in Wisconsin will dance to build bridges to other disciplines and cultures.
SOCIAL STUDIES
GEOGRAPHY: Students in Wisconsin will learn about geography through the study of the relationships among
people, places and environments.
HISTORY: Students in Wisconsin will learn about the history of Wisconsin, the United States and the world,
examining change and continuity over time in order to develop historical perspective, explain historical
relationships, and analyze issues that affect the present and the future.
BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES: Students in Wisconsin will learn about the behavioral sciences by exploring concepts
from the discipline of sociology, the study of the interactions among individuals, groups and institutions; the
discipline of psychology, the study of factors that influence individual identity and learning; and the discipline of
anthropology, the study of cultures in various times and settings.
MUSIC
ANALYSIS: Students in Wisconsin will analyze and describe music.
THE ARTS: Students in Wisconsin will relate music to the other arts and disciplines outside the arts.
HISTORY AND CULTURE: Students in Wisconsin will relate music to history and culture.
THEATER
PLAY READING AND ANALYSIS: Students in Wisconsin will attend live theater and read plays, be able to analyze
and evaluate the play and articulate (create meaning from) the play’s message for individuals and society.
RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS: Students in Wisconsin will research and analyze methods of presentation and
audience response for theater, the interconnections of theater, community, other cultures and historical
periods for use as general knowledge.
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
ABOUT THE SHOW
Shaolin Warriors is more than a Kung Fu show; it is a traditional strength through adversity story.
Featuring rarely seen Buddhist meditation alongside deadly martial-arts prowess, this breathtaking
extravaganza follows the journey from a young child initiation into the monastery, to achieving fully
fledged warrior status through diligent training and study. Beginning at a very young age, the Kung Fu
masters are trained in mental and physical disciplines, perfecting the art of hand-to-hand and weapons
combat, which allows them to perform unbelievable feats of athleticism that only seems possible in the
movies.
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
LESSON ONE: KUNG FU
OBJECTIVE: Kung Fu is more than a word associated with martial arts. Students will learn how practice
can make us all Kung Fu masters.
MATERIALS
Open space
5x7 cardstock (one per student)
OPENING DISCUSSION
Kung Fu is a Chinese term referring to any study, learning or practice that requires patience, energy
and time to complete. In its original meaning, Kung Fu can refer to any discipline or skill achieved
through hard work and practice, not necessarily martial arts. In Western culture, the term Kung Fu is
often erroneously used as an umbrella term when specifically referring to Chinese martial arts.
However, one can say a person’s Kung Fu is being good in cooking, or that someone has Kung Fu in
dancing. Someone possessing Kung Fu implies skill in that area in which they have worked hard to
develop. Someone with bad Kung Fu simply has not put enough time or effort into training. What is
something you posses Kung Fu in?
WARM UP
• Have students find an open space within the room in which they are unable to touch a person next
to them. Once they have found their spot, instruct students to stand in a comfortable stance.
• Discuss with students where their kidneys are located and instruct them to gently place their hands
on that location.
• Moving at the waist, rotate 15 times in each direction.
• Next, shift the weight, side-to-side while tapping the neck and kidney (GENTLY) with open palms.
• Having students put their hands down, instruct them to close their eyes and in hale a deep breath
through the nose. Encourage them to allow their lungs to fill up comfortably.
• Then have students smoothly exhale through the mouth, through a small parting of their lips.
• Note the exhale should generally be at least 50% longer than the inhale.
• Repeat 10 – 15x.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Shaolin Monastery or Shaolin Temple is a Chan Buddhist temple at Song Shan in Zhengzhou City,
Henan Province, of what is now the People’s Republic of China. The monastery was built by the
Emperor Hsian-Wen in 477 C.E. The Shao in “Shaolin” refers to “Mount Shaoshi”, a mountain in the
Songshan mountain range. The lin in “Shaolin” means “forest.” So the literal translation of this word
means “Monastery in the woods of Mount Shaoshi.”
The temple complex contains a number of buildings and interesting sites. One building, the Shanmen
Hall, enshrines the Maitreya Buddha. The sides of the corridor behind the hall’s gate are lined with
inscriptions on stone steles from several dynasties, and two stone lions made in the Ming Dynasty
(1368-1644) crouch under the stairs. In front of the monastery are four springs called ‘Spring Zhuoxi’
which is said to have been created so water could be easily fetched – each spring is said to have its
own distinctive flavor.
Source: www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Shaolin_Monastery
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
ACTIVITY
• Discuss with students that when we condition or train our body we can find areas of strength and also
areas of growth. Not only do we need to develop our physical bodies, we also need to develop who
we are as people.
• Invite students to share traits they think add to a person’s good character. Examples could include:
honesty, respect, fairness, kindness, responsibility.
• Introduce students to Confucius and his ideas in ancient China. Explain that Confucius (551-479 BC)
was a famous thinker who focused on the importance of values as a way for people to live good lives.
These ideas were referred to as proverbs.
• Some examples of Chinese proverbs include:
• A friend in need is a friend indeed.
• Don’t put off until tomorrow what can be done today.
• Haste makes waste.
• Some penned by Confucius include:
• Everything has beauty, but not everyone see it.
• It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.
• As a class discuss what character traits they think the proverbs match. If needed, provide students
with additional proverbs to analyze.
• After your class discussion, have students pick one character trait and write it on the pre-cut
cardstock.
• Have students save their words.
CLOSING DISCUSSION
Why do you think it is important to condition our bodies? Why do you think it is important to condition
who we are as people? Both take a lot of work and patience. Do you think your kung fu could be in
having good character?
Confucius was an influential
Chinese philosopher, teacher
and political figure known for
his popular aphorisms and for
his models of social interaction.
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
LESSON TWO: CONFUCIUS SAYS . . .
OBJECTIVE: Students will look at the life of Chinese philosopher Confucius in more detail and explore the
life lessons he taught.
MATERIALS
Character traits word cards
Movement music
OPENING DISCUSSION
Ask students if they can remember any details on Confucius or what he is known for. Discuss the
following additional facts below with students.
• The life of Confucius: born into a poor but aristocratic family; pursued the life of a scholar at age 15;
studies included religious ritual, music, calligraphy, arithmetic, poetry, and history; began serving in
local politics at age 19; left politics at age 30 to travel across China as a teacher, followed by his
disciples.
• Confucianism was the official belief system of China from 206 B.C.E. to 1912 C.E., and continues to be
the most practiced belief system in China today (it was removed from official status in 1912 due to the
revolution and the abandonment of a national belief system, not because people stopped practicing
it).
• Confucius is the Latinized version of the name K’ung Fu Tzu
• K’ung Fu Tzu was allowed to get an education due to the noble status of his family, but he believed
and taught that all people should have access to an education. He also taught that the most educated
and highest-achieving students had a duty to serve in the government.
DID YOU KNOW?
Shaolin monks train in martial arts for several hours every day – perfecting the art of hand-to-hand and
weapons combat. Each is required to achieve an extraordinarily high level of proficiency in each of the
temple’s 18 traditional weapons and to become a master of one. However, it is the daily practice of
seated meditation, which enables the individual monk to sustain a demanding physical regimen.
Through a practice known as Ch’an (Chinese for Zen), they calm the body and focus the mind to a single
collected point in order to attain a mental state known as Samadhi, or complete mental absorption. It is
in this quiet yet highly focused stated of mind that the warrior is able to sustain extreme physical
discomfort and pain and enable him to undergo the intense daily training required to achieve and
maintain the level of adeptness for which they are so highly praised.
Today, Zen is becoming increasingly popular in the West, where it is the most widely practiced sect of
Buddhism among non-Asians. The popularity of Zen outside of Asia can perhaps be explained by the
universality of its tenet that humbly emptying oneself leads one to go beyond oneself to be aware that
all are interconnected, by its rejection of intellectualism that is refreshing in Western culture which
makes high demands on the intellect at every moment, and by its simple and natural aesthetic.
Source: www.cami.com
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
WARM UP
• Instruct students in the following warm up:
• Rub your hands briskly together as if warming up your hands on a really cold day.
• But this time, add intention and awareness to your movement. Think of bringing life to your
hands by rubbing them and be aware of how this feels in each hand.
• Once you feel your hands are filled with warmth, slowly pull you hands gently apart. Feel how the
connection between them is strong.
• As you pull your hands apart, keep hands soft and relaxed and have them move slowly through the
air.
• When you feel the connection between your hands weaken, bring them back slowly together. Don’t
let your hands touch quite yet!
• Continue to pull hands apart and bring them together while maintaining a slow and steady rhythm.
Imagine have a full ball of energy floating between your hands.
• To end this exercise, simply pull your hands slowly apart and let them drop down to your sides.
ACTIVITY
• Have students pull out their character word they had chosen from Lesson One.
• Ask students to describe what it felt like to move the energy ball in their hands. Discuss how the
fluidity of their movements helped them explore the space around them.
• Have students stand and find an open space.
• Explain to students that they are going to embody the character words from Lesson One. For
example if the selected word was kindness students will show what movement of kindness looks like
within their body.
• Have one student share his selected word and provide students with about 30 seconds to explore a
movement that would depict that word. Provide positive feedback based on the movements you
see students creating.
• Next, instruct each student to look at their word and create a movement that embodies the word.
After the time has completed, have the students perform their movements together.
• Have students take their movement and fit it into a simple eight count.
• Snap or clap as steady beat of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 and share with students that their movement
will need to fit within that count. Students will need to use the entire count with their
movement.
• Once students have tweaked their movements, have them perform one more time as an entire
group.
• Have students gather into circled groups of four and teach their movement to members of the
group. After each student has shared, have the group work together to connect their four
movements into a short routine.
• Provide students time to practice their routine in four counts of eight. If able, add a layer of music
for students to move to.
• Divide the room in half and have each side perform their routine while the other observes.
CLOSING DISCUSSION
What character trait did you pick? Why do you feel this one is important to you? How did your groups
movements show all the character traits and how they interact with each other?
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
LESSON THREE: CALLIGRAPHY
OBJECTIVE: Students will look at the Chinese art form of calligraphy and its importance within the
culture.
MATERIALS
Internet
Open space
OPENING DISCUSSION
Research states that the Chinese written language began to develop
more than 3,000 years ago and eventually evolved into five basic script types,
all of which are still used today.
WARM UP
• Instruct students to find an open space in the classroom and have them stand with their feet a little
farther than a hip distance apart.
• Have students bend their elbows close to their sides, with hands fisted and facing upward in front of
the body.
• Have students inhale and sink down into a squatting position until their thighs are almost parallel to
the floor.
• See how long students are able to hold the position!
• Close the warm up with the breathing techniques from Lesson One.
DID YOU KNOW?
There are over 20 weapons used by the Shaolin monks today. They include the common axe,
cudgel, spear, halberd, sword and broadsword, 3-section staff, dart, dagger, black tiger hammer,
plum blossom broadsword, Bodhidharma staff, tiger hooks and many others. These weapons are
equally divided between short and long. Among all these weapons, the cudgel, spear, sword and
broadsword are known together as the four major weapons of Shaolin. Traditionally, these monks
weren’t just commonly armed with the major four. They had many short weapons hidden on the
body such as the dart, iron fan and flute, Bodihidharma staff and many others being solely unique
to the Shaolin practices. The use of these hidden weapons traditionally gave the Shaolin monks
additional power over their enemies. In addition to the employment of these weapons is the fact
that virtually any common everyday object can be utilized by a Shaolin warrior.
Broadsword
Bodhidharma Staff
3-Section Staff
Cudgel
Iron Fan
Halberd
Source: www.fac.umass.edu
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
ACTIVITY
• Play examples of traditional Chinese music for students as they find their seats.
• www.ibiblio.org/chinese-music/
• While keeping the music playing, display images of Chinese calligraphic landscape artwork and
discuss what students see in the images.
• www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1979.75.2/
• Have students imagine being “inside” the piece with the sounds of music around them.
• What feelings do they have looking at the piece?
• How is the piece similar or different from other types of artwork they have seen?
• Direct students to look at the Chinese lettering found on the artwork and share that his lettering is
referred to as calligraphy.
• Note: Read the “Discover the Arts” portion to students as an introduction to this style of
writing.
• Next have students watch the video below to see how a Chinese character is developed.
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kwlk0WBqLzg
• Explain that Chinese calligraphy and painting are characterized by efficient painting strokes. The
artist will only use strokes necessary to convey the meaning in his or her work.
• Share the video: Appreciating Chinese Calligraphy with students
• www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEN0CzGv5-Y
CLOSING DISCUSSION
Calligraphy is a skill that is highly valued in China. Discuss the value that our culture puts on writing.
Calligraphy, or the art of writing, was the visual art form prized above all others in traditional China.
The genres of painting and calligraphy emerged simultaneously, sharing identical tools – namely,
brush and ink. Yet calligraphy was revered as a fine art long before painting; indeed it was not until
the Song Dynasty, when painting became closely allied with calligraphy in aim, form and technique,
that painting shed its status as mere craft and joined the higher ranks of fine arts.
The elevated status of calligraphy reflects the importance of written word in China. This was a culture
devoted to the power of words. From the beginning, emperors asserted their authority by engraving
their own pronouncements on mountain sides and on large stones erected at outdoor sites. Because
of this, scholars whose main currency was the written word, came to assume the dominant positions
in government, society and culture.
Learning how to read and write Chinese is difficult because there is no alphabet or phonetic system.
Each written Chinese word is represented by its own unique symbol, a kind of abstract diagram
known as a “character” and so each word must be learned separately through a laborious process of
writing and rewriting the character till it has been memorized. To read a newspaper requires a
knowledge of around 3,000 characters; a well educated individual is familiar with about 5,000
characters; a professor with perhaps 8,000. More than 50,000 characters exist in all, the great
majority never to be used.
Source: www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/chcl/hd_chcl.htm
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
LESSON FOUR: WARRIOR
OBJECTIVE: Students will explore what it means to be a warrior who is strong and nonviolent.
MATERIALS
Open space
Paper
Writing utensils
OPENING DISCUSSION
What does the word “warrior” mean to you? We often think of a warrior as a brave and experienced
soldier or fighter, but what if it something in addition or different from this definition? Warriors
embody the best qualities among people and they make a firm decision to perfect his or her character
and live by a strict code of ethics. Forrest E. Morgan defines a master warrior as “a man of character, a
man of wisdom and insight.” With this definition in mind, can you think of a warrior you know?
WARM UP
• Share with students that warriors have been defined as an person who holds the honor of being a
strong individual of character.
• Have students find an open space in which they will not touch other students near them. Instruct
students to stand with feet apart and have them stretch their fingertips towards the ground while
reaching the crown of their head up to the sky. As a group, breath fully together.
• Students may feel like they are “just standing there” but encourage them to focus on
standing up straight.
• Next, explain to students that they will practice a warrior pose. Instruct students to exhale as they
step their feet apart.
• Have students turn their right foot out 90 degrees and pivot the left foot inwards.
DID YOU KNOW?
The Pagoda Forest at Shaolin Temple stands at the foot of Shaoshi Mountain about half a kilometer
west to the Shaolin Temple. It is a concentration of tomb pagodas for eminent monks and abbots of
the temple. Customarily, after a respected monk’s decease, his remains or ashes (or clothes if these
two were missing) would be buried underground and a pagoda would be constructed upon it, of which
the height, number of tiers, shape and the space it occupied would be decided according to his
lifetime achievements and contributions. The number of tiers of the pagodas must be odd numbers
and no greater than 7, and the height of the pagodas are all less than 50 feet.
Source: www.foreignercn.com
The oldest pagoda is one determined to have been built in the year of 791 AD, during the Tang
Dynasty, which rises about 26 feet, but only features one tier. It was made with brick and stone and
decorated with high-relief in patterns like Feitian (goddess of Buddhism) and other conventional
Buddhism objects.
A rough count shows more than 240 tomb pagodas of various sizes from the Tang, Song, Jin, Yuan,
Ming and Qing dynasties (AD 618-1911), making it the biggest pagoda forest in China. Most of the
pagodas are stone and brick structures, ranging from one to seven stories, less than fifteen meters
high; and they all carry the exact year of their construction as well as many carvings and inscriptions.
Their shapes are varied, including polygonal, cylindrical, vase-like, conical and monolithic, making the
pagoda forest an exhibition of ancient pagodas, carvings and calligraphy of various dynasties.
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
• Have students align their front heel with the arch of their back foot. Encourage them to exhale has
they bend their right knee over the right ankle.
• Next have them reach up strongly through their arms and press palms together. If possible, have
students gently tilt their heads back and gaze up at their thumbs. Hold for one minute
then switch sides.
ACTIVITY
• The Shaolin Warriors train through a daily practice of seated meditation to calm their
body into a mental state of complete mental absorption.
• Share with students that it takes daily training to achieve and maintain this level
of adeptness of which they are so highly praised.
• Pass out a piece of paper and have students write down one area in which
they would like to become masters. Have students write a written response to
the essay question: Being a warrior is more than fighting for something, it also takes being a person
of honor and character. Explain the importance of remaining a person of character as you work
toward your dreams.
CLOSING DISCUSSION
Why is it important to have warriors in our lives and culture?
Source: www.balckbeltmag.com
Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practices which are utilized for a
number of reasons including: self-defense, military and law enforcement applications, mental
and spiritual development as well as entertainment and the preservation of a nations cultural
heritage.
China became the center of the martial arts universe in 2600 B.C. In 2000 B.C., Emperor
Huang Di was noted to be a shuai jiao (wrestling) and pole-fighting expert and had his troops
learn martial arts. During the Han and Qin dynasties (256 B.C.-A.D. 220), this wrestling style
was combined with kemari (a kicking game designed to strengthen one’s feet for war) to
create shubaku. Sun Tsu (544-496 B.C.) wrote The Art of War, emphasizing the importance of
martial arts for living and fighting. Early records also indicate that Chinese martial arts spread
into Europe, India and Asia Minor (Middle East) via the Silk Road in 500 B.C.
Yet the origin of today’s martial arts began in 527 A.D. when Indian monk Ta Mo arrived at the
Shaolin Temple in the Henan province and taught the monks the 18 Buddhist Fists, which
evolved into the Five Animal Styles of Shaolin. While Tao Mo’s influence has inspired many
Chinese and non-Chinese martial arts, others have evolved independently.
13
Don’t let this experience end with the drop of the curtain. Keep the conversation going with
your students and reflect on the performance that you just attended. Here are a few
questions to get the conversation started!
• How can see the idea of bravery represented in this performance?
•What moment in the warrior’s journey did you most connect to?
•Which moment do you remember most from the performance? What was happening?
•What did you learn about the importance of strength and trust of others from this
performance?
•Describe the music you heard. How did the music add to the mood or atmosphere of the
performance?
•If you were going to tell a friend about the performance, how would you describe it in one
sentence?
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
WEBSITES
Arts Edge – free digital resource for teaching and learning, in through and about the arts
www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org
Teaching Tolerance
www.teachingtolerance.org
This educator resource guide is created as part of The Boldt Company Beyond the Stage Education Program.
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Education | [email protected] | (920) 730-3726
THANK YOU TO OUR SERIES SPONSORS FOR MAKING THIS PERFORMANCE POSSIBLE!
Community Partner(s)
Our sponsors love to hear from you! Mail or drop off cards, letters or pictures to
the Center and we will share with them.
Fox Cities Performing Arts Center
Education Department
400 W. College Avenue
Appleton, WI 54911