# Rob Moses has a new website



## grappling_mandala (Jul 26, 2004)

For those interested I've helped Sifu Rob put up a website at www.kungfumoses.com

There are LOTS of movies of fu. Crazy kung fu la hoop videos, free form videos, etc. This is a HIGH BANDWIDTH site. So if your on dialup, you might want to check out the 'short versions'. 

Don't use quicktime on any of the movies, It'll crash. Use real player or windows media player. I have to figure out what the cause of this bug is. Sorry. 

Sifu Rob came up in the arts as a Northern Mantis Kung Fu practitioner under Kam Yuen. He started training in 1977. He has since founded 'Tai Mantis' under Kam Yuens Organization, and Nine Psalms Mantis is his kung fu system that he uses to teach concepts to other practioners. It's a fun system, it's concept driven, although Rob loves teaching forms as well. 

Hope you enjoy. Keep kung fu ALIVE. 

Dave in Oregon


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## grappling_mandala (Jul 27, 2004)

"Tai Mantis" should read "Tai Shan Mantis". 

Sorry for the mis-qoute.

Dave


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## RHD (Jul 29, 2004)

Well...I wasn't going to respond to this one but...
I watched the long video under Rob Moses's biography. 
It reminded me very strongly of the one and only Grateful Dead concert I went to in my youth.  Everyone there (myself excluded) was heavily dosed with LSD.  Many of them were dancing in thier acid induced hallucinatory state.  It was referred to as "spinning".  The video reminded me of this.  I'm not sure how this is Preying Mantis kung fu, but since it's been published in Black Belt magazine it must be something.
Mike


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## Black Tiger Fist (Jul 30, 2004)

Hmmmm......

well, i have to agree with RHD ,when he says "I'm not sure how this is Preying Mantis kung fu"

I really won't say anything other than ,i was not impressed with what i saw in the video on that site.

jeff


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## grappling_mandala (Jul 30, 2004)

Black Tiger and RHD: Your responses are apprieciated! Out of curiosity can you point me in the direction of videos you are impressed with? 

On the biography videos: those are both free form. 

I talked to Sifu Rob yesteday, the next videos he wants to do are going to be 'traditional' forms. I assume things like BumBo, Piercing Hands, Plum Flower Fist, Monkey Steels peach, etc.

What do you WANT to see? 

Dave


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## Thundering Mantis (Jul 30, 2004)

There's a clip of Sifu Rob Moses doing a traditional Taiji Praying mantis set, the original Mantis set of Wong Long, called Bumbo

 Dave I think it would be best if you Included this clip among the video section of the website, it would give traditionalists a clearer idea of Sifu Moses' skill level.

 If any of you have seen Bumbo performed before, then you may judge.

 If you've never seen Bumbo, or any traditional mantis set nonetheless, you might have a hard time understanding the movements and applications as Mantis is very ecclectic and almost completely foreign to practitioners of systems like Southern Tiger per se.

 Anyway, Dave, get that clip up there and let the curious people check it out... please, for the sake of all the traditionalists on this forum.  I had posted a link for this clip over a week ago, as it seems the content is being moved to the new site...

 and guys, please keep in mind, what Sifu Moses is doing with 9-Psalms and the Kung-fu-la-hoops is very foreign to most martial artists... from my experience of living in this world, foreign concepts and even foreign people are usually treated with ridicule by the closed minded and insecure people, it's really just a fear-based response to the unknown, very natural for average humans to behave this way.  


  btw, to alleviate any MORE confusion... it's correct, Sifu Moses is teaching Tai Shan Mantis, a mix of the Traditional Taiji Praying mantis (as taught by one branch of Wong Long's direct descendants) and his own free form system, 9-Psalms.  Tai Shan mountain is a place in China where he made the decision to teach again.

 RHD, sarcasm aside, I've never been to a Dead concert (personally don't like the idea of being surrounded by so many hippies) but playing around with these weird weapons  is indeed pretty much about tripping out, but without the use of  LSD 

 Trust me, I get my hands on 3 of them twice a week, and if you're used to playing with a staff for years, it's quite a trip to work with these things.  After wacking yourself a few times in the skull, knees, sometimes the nards even... you get a feel of what each weapon does as it moves along with your intentions.  Eventually you stop hitting yourself 

 If anyone remembers when they were first learning the staff, it involved quite a few hits, and a good amount of pain,
 remember... the stick is the teacher, and if your teacher decides to move in completely new ways, you're going to have to learn to adjust.

 I'm sorry if anything I wrote wasn't too clear, it's 3 am here in Toronto and I just got back from training all night. Haven't had a chance to check this forum in over a week, my days are usually full between training and work. pretty tired here.


 keep on truckin'  

 selim


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## grappling_mandala (Jul 30, 2004)

TM: I have that bumbo video. Here's the direct link.

http://www.kungfumoses.com/videos/Rob_Moses_Bumbo.wmv

I'll post links on the page Saturday morning. 

Dave


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## 7starmantis (Jul 30, 2004)

I have seen Bong Bo performed many times and I actually know the form myself. Its basically the one form everyone learns when they touch on mantis and then go around saying they know mantis kung fu. There is alot more to mantis then Bong Bo. I'm not saying this is what your sifu has done, I'm just stating that fact.

Now, I watched the video a while back and now once again. There are lineages that misinterpret this form and often times it gets changed. Different systems of mantis change it to fit their "style". The form performed is quite different from the traditional 7* form Bong Bo, but is still the same form. I can't really comment on what I thought about the video as any time I comment and its taken negatively I get all these "You should be ashamed of yourself" and "I'm so offended and your disrespectful" replies. If I can't be honest, then there is no reason to post it at all. 
If I could get something to transfer VHS to computer file, I would post a video of what I would consider impressive, but I dont have the means.

7sm


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## RHD (Jul 30, 2004)

grappling_mandala said:
			
		

> Black Tiger and RHD: Your responses are apprieciated! Out of curiosity can you point me in the direction of videos you are impressed with?
> 
> On the biography videos: those are both free form.
> 
> ...



I don WANT to see anything other than good Chinese martial arts.  Just posted my reactions to the video I watched.  That's all.  

Mr. Moses is entitled to play his kung fu and swing sticks around however he likes.  I'm not sure what it has to do with Chinese, or martial, but if he enjoys it well...that's good for him.

I'd be glad to post some clips of myself for you guys to enjoy or rip apart as you like.  I don't have a website to host them, but I have a digital recorder. 

Mike


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## nlmantis (Jul 30, 2004)

Hi there,

I remember the first time I saw Sigong Moses during a BBQ after a Fu Seminar in Guelph, Ontario. He picked up a 3-section staff and started spinning it and striking with it at maximum speed in ways I never thought possible, with no thought or effort whatsoever. You could not even hear the chains at any transition. Just watching this I picked up a realm of ideas of application and transition for my own play. After about 2 years of trying last Sunday I still ended up cut across the eye bleeding all over the grass. Just keep trying, right.. Anyways after that Moses showed some fast double broadsword play and later a 9-section whip chain session where the sparks came off (literally). This display amazed all students and Sifus present, I have never seen anything like it since. 

Sigong Moses is like the Salvador Dali of Kung Fu, he mastered the basics, empty-handed Mantis and weaponry under Dr Kam and then went on to develop a more expressionistic martial arts style with Tai Shan Mantis and associated Kung-Fu-La-Hoop staffs. (For the few who don't know Dali, he spent many years perfecting his technique to make photo-realistic paintings, then experimented with various other styles and went on to surrealism insipred by Freud and poets like Andre Breton). On the question whether this has anything to do with Praying Mantis Kung Fu; I would argue it is the foundation/father system without which Tai Shan Mantis would not have been created, so fundamentally related. The difference is apparent, but so are the commonalities (as with most mantis systems).

Anyways my point is that these videos might seem far from the mantis base system; they are leafs on a tree rooted deeply in Tai Chi Praying Mantis Kung Fu..

Love, Peace, Harmony.
Bob.


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## Black Tiger Fist (Jul 30, 2004)

grappling_mandala said:
			
		

> Black Tiger and RHD: Your responses are apprieciated! Out of curiosity can you point me in the direction of videos you are impressed with?
> 
> On the biography videos: those are both free form.
> 
> ...


Well, it's not a matter of what i want to see ,i was just not impressed with that video.

But that doesn't mean anything because most videos are done with a different intent than what the form would usually be done.

I've been exposed to a lil mantis both Northern and Southern ,and that just did not do it for me. I have videos that i can IM you if you're not on dial-up ,but not anything on a website or forum.

If you're interested ,just pm me.

jeff


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## 7starmantis (Jul 30, 2004)

Actually, I would be interested.

7sm


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## Black Tiger Fist (Jul 30, 2004)

7starmantis said:
			
		

> Actually, I would be interested.
> 
> 7sm


 
Well, just hit me up on IM ,i'm jmd16101 on AIM.

jeff


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## grappling_mandala (Jul 30, 2004)

I'm interested too. I'll hit you up Saturday when I'm highspeed. On dialup tonight.

Dave


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## Black Tiger Fist (Jul 31, 2004)

No problem.


I also have another screen name of hakfustylez on AIM ,if you see that one online ,then it means i'm on dial up.

jeff


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## grappling_mandala (Jul 31, 2004)

http://www.kungfumoses.com/gallery/albums/album05/Rob_Moses_Bumbo_001.mpg

There is now a video in the gallery of Sifu Moses demonstrating Bumbo Mantis Form

-Dave


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## Black Tiger Fist (Aug 3, 2004)

grappling_mandala said:
			
		

> http://www.kungfumoses.com/gallery/albums/album05/Rob_Moses_Bumbo_001.mpg
> 
> There is now a video in the gallery of Sifu Moses demonstrating Bumbo Mantis Form
> 
> -Dave


Both you and 7*Mantis if you want the vids ,i'll be online tonight after 11:30 pm EST.

Sorry but i moved to NY from Miami and i'm using my sisters pc ,so i'm limited to when i can use it.

But i'll be on for several hrs tonight.

jeff


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