Benny Meng is the curator of the Ving Tsun Museum in Dayton, Ohio. He trained under the Moy Yat lineage to Sifu status, then trained under Ip Chun and Ip Ching.
The DVD starts off with a slideshow introduction to Benny Meng’s achievements and his martial arts journey (so far). He then describes what the DVD is designed for, which is to assist active students in the Ving Tsun Museum syllabus and to provide support to quality instructors.
Author Sifu Jon Rister has been teaching martial arts since 1987. He has been involved in Wing Chun since he first met his teacher, Sifu Francis Fong, in 1986. In addition to Wing Chun, he has also studied and achieved instructor rank in Kali-Eskrima under Dan Inosanto, and similarly ranked in Jun Fan/ Jeet Kune Do under Dan Inosanto and Larry B. Hartsell.
For starters, the book title itself really sounded promising to me, as it starts off with the history of Wing Chun.
Lee Man Hung is a master of the Ving Tsun system under Tommy Yuen Yim Keung’s lineage. Sifu Yuen was one of Wong Shun Leung’s four eldest disciples.
At the start of the DVD, we get a quiet demonstration of some Ving Tsun methods. And, quiet is the first thing that I can say about this video. There is no annoying music, no posh English narration—nothing. Just Lee Man Hung talking you through each exercise (in Cantonese with English subtitles). This is a good thing—sort of.
Joseph Lee trained and taught in virtual anonymity for the past 20 years, and it is only recently that Lee has stepped out from the shadows to share his unique knowledge. Lee moved to the United Kingdom at the age of 15 and continued his training before finally meeting and starting his training under Grandmaster Lee Shing, under whom he continued to train for the next 20 years until his master’s death.
The focus of the DVD is on the attack and counter attacking skills of Wing Chun. After a short introduction, we are into Bong Sau and Lap Sau—the first of many chapters on this 75-minute DVD.
First impressions of this DVD are a bit amateurish, mainly because of the one camera recording and lack of editing. But, as I sat back and began to take note of the material being taught, I instantly changed my mind.
Taner and Graziano have recorded a DVD that is jam-packed with details, so no more demonstrations that you just simply follow along blind. What you get is fine points on structure, position and application—all delivered mainly by Sifu Taner with Sifu Graziano chipping in with some excellent key points. Naturally, we get a break down of Bong, Tan and Fook Sao, but with emphasis on feeling, forces, and correct hit lines, coupled with information on when, why and where to use these techniques. And, they are also keen to explain that this is only how they do Wing Chun, which shows great humility.
Sifu Protheroe has been a practitioner and advocate of the Rattan Ring for over 25 years. This DVD is an edited version of two, three-hour seminars on the ring.
Before I continue, it’s worth mentioning that the audio quality on this DVD is very poor, so much so that there is a statement on the introduction apologizing for this fact. As a total newbie to the Rattan Ring, I was very curious to learn what it is all about, so the brief history and the description of the ring was a welcome introduction to the DVD.
Clive Potter has studied Ving Tsun since 1971 and became a student of Wong Shun Leung in 1984. The Wong Shun Leung Ving Tsun Kung Fu Association was formed in 1994, with its headquarters in St. Albans, UK. It has been successful ever since with schools opening in the USA, Turkey, Germany, Italy, and Spain.
This DVD is of a seminar given by Clive Potter and his Senior Instructor Adam Cope at their headquarters. The DVD starts with some nice footage of Wong Shun Leung performing the first form, but this is a bit short with only part of the form shown, which is a pity. We then go straight into the seminar footage. Clive gives a nice introduction to the form with some common mistakes to avoid when opening the form.