Category: News

Category: News

Tags :

Category : News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy student, Benedetta Bonacci, has tied for equal first place in the Yang Senior Group Female section of the 2023 US Challenge, hosted by the United States Wushu Academy (USWA) in Lanham, Maryland.

Benedetta Bonacci (center, dark blue) with other medal winning competitors and officials.

Benedetta presented the Beijing 24 Forms (also known as Yang 24 Forms or Yang Short Form) and received an overall score of 8.76, which was the top score received by another competitor in the same group. Her score also qualifies her to join the USA Wushu Kungfu Federation’s (USAWKF) team and potentially compete at the International Wushu Federation’s (IWUF) World Kungfu Championships to be held in Emeishan, Sichuan, China in 2025.

“This is an outstanding result for Benedetta and I’m sure I speak for everyone associated with Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy when I say we’re all very proud of her achievement,” said Founder and Head Instructor, Ray Gates. “This was her first attempt at competition level Tai Chi and she worked very hard to get this result. She deserves this result.”

Having been a State and National Tai Chi competition winner in Australia in past years, Ray hopes this student’s success will inspire others to try competition. “It really encourages you to develop your Tai Chi to a higher standard, and it’s just great fun,” he said. “I would love to see more of my students get involved, and it would be great to one day have Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy represented in a team event at competition. Who knows? Maybe one day we’ll have some of our students performing Tai Chi at the Olympics.”

The IWUF continues to promote wushu for inclusion as an Olympic sport, and has successfully petitioned for the inclusion of wushu in the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal. They see this as a pivotal step in seeing wushu included in the modern Olympic Games.

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy congratulates all competitors at the US Challenge and looks forward to future competitions.

Category: News

Tags :

Category : News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy is please to announce that its Founder/Head Instructor, Ray Gates, has successfully joined the USA Wushu-Kungfu Federation (USAWKF).

USAWKF is the official US representative to the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), currently composed of 146 member nations worldwide. Their mission is to organize the sport of wushu and extend its joy and benefits to the American people. They are primarily involved in developing and organizing regional and national competitions and events for Wushu and Kungfu styles, including Taijiquan, and maintain a national ranking system, for both adults and juniors. They also manage the US Wushu Team, which represents the US at international competitions.

“Having previously been a competitor at State and National levels in Australia, I can tell you that participating in competition is not only a great way to develop your Tai Chi skills, but an enjoyable way to explore the many different styles and teaching methods of Tai Chi, and meet lots of great people who share your passion and interest in Tai Chi,” said Founder/Head Instructor, Ray Gates. “It would be wonderful to see WTCA students representing themselves and our school at competition. And if wushu is eventually accepted as an Olympic sport, perhaps one day a WTCA student will represent the US Wushu Team at the Olympic level.”

Category: News

Tags :

Category : Classes , News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy is pleased to announce the opening of a new class in Whitewater, WI.

Commencing April 22nd, 2023, WTCA will be offering classes at the Whitewater Seniors Center at Starin Park, Whitewater. While this is a new class to Whitewater, it represents a transfer of the Evansville class to this new location. The relocation of the Evansville class is seen to have a number of benefits, including the ability to offer Beginners weekly rather than bi-weekly classes as well as being more accessible to people living in this region of Wisconsin.

“There has been a lot of interest from the public in having Tai Chi available in Whitewater and surrounding areas, and that, coupled with the great facility we’ve been able to secure, has been the main influence in our decision to move our Evansville class to Whitewater,” said WTCA’s Founder and Head Instructor, Ray Gates.

Registrations for the next term of classes for all locations including Whitewater are now open and details can be found on our Classes page.

Category: News

Tags :

Category : News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy is please to announce it will start hosting workshops in 2023.

It is anticipated that up to six workshops will be held in 2023, with the first two schedule for January 14. WTCA’s workshops will focus on specific aspects of Tai Chi/Taijiquan and Qigong practice, and are aimed at giving attendees a deeper understanding of the principles and practice of Tai Chi. Most workshops will be open for public attendance although some prerequisites may need to be met in order to attend.

The first workshops will focus on an initial examination of the Thirteen Postures and the martial applications of Tai Chi forms. While only these two workshops have been formally announced, future workshops will build on these initial ones, while others will examine other aspects related to Tai Chi theory and practice including qi and Qigong practice.

Further information can be found at WTCA’s workshop page under the ‘What We Offer’ menu or by clicking here.

Category: News

Tags :

Category : News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy’s Instructor Ray Gates has been accredited as an Associate Instructor with the American Tai Chi and Qigong Association (ATCQA).

ATCQA is a national non-profit organization whose aim is to promote Tai Chi and Qigong – in any style, lineage, or application – in the United States for American people’s health, fitness and wellness. In order for Tai Chi Instructors to be accredited with ATCQA they must be able to demonstrate their qualifications and experience in teaching Tai Chi. At the Associate Instructor level an Instructor has demonstrated that they have accumulated a minimum of 200 hours teaching Tai Chi. To maintain accreditation Instructors must reapply every two years.

Instructor Ray Gates has formerly held accreditation with Australia’s Kung Fu and Wushu Federation and is pleased to have achieved accreditation within the United States. He is grateful to all those who supported him during the accreditation process, including his sifu Master Dennis Watts, and his past and current students.

Category: News

Category : Classes , News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy is changing the timing of its Evansville classes.

Commencing in the final term of 2022, Beginner classes will be held weekly for an hour instead of every two weeks as has been the previous format. The change has been made to make the class more accessible to new students and to bring the classes more into line with other venues.

Intermediate classes will continue to be held every two weeks for an hour and a half at this time, however this is also expected to change in the foreseeable future.

Term 4 commences at the Evansville location on Saturday October 8 – see our class information for details.

Category: News

Tags :

Category : Classes , News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy strives to make Tai Chi and Qigong accessible to as many people as possible. While we always try to keep our fees as low as possible, in the current economic climate it can still be challenging for people to afford engaging in activities which are additional to their regular monthly expenses. To try and ease financial burden on people and continue to make Tai Chi affordable, WTCA is now able to take installment payments using Afterpay.

Afterpay offers the ability to split payments into 4 installments to make payments easier to manage. Payments are made via our secure Square site and details are provided upon request.

Afterpay may include its own fees or charges separate from your payment for using this service, and anyone using this service are advised to be sure they understand all the terms and conditions of Afterpay’s service prior to establishing a payment agreement with them.

Currently use of Afterpay is for class term fees, however WTCA plans to extend this to other services in due course. Information about our classes can be found here.

Want to know what Tai Chi is like? Come to one of our Come N Try Tai Chi events! We have events scheduled in Brookfield, Cedarburg and Glendale!

Can’t make it to any of our current locations? Let us know where you would like to see us start a new class.

Are you a community group or business that would like to offer Qigong to your members/community/employees? Check out our Corporate and Community Qigong program.

Category: News

Tags :

Category : Events , News

The Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts has hosted a space for Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy to hold Tai Chi classes since 2020. This was our first official class in the Greater Milwaukee area, and we now hold Beginner and Intermediate classes at their facility.

WTCA is helping Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts celebrate their 20 years of making the arts accessible to the Greater Milwaukee community by holding two Come N Try Tai Chi for Free sessions during their Summer celebrations. These sessions will be held on Saturday mornings on June 25 and July 2 at from 8am. Following these sessions, attendees can continue the celebration with coffee and live music from 9am.

More information about the Come N Try Tai Chi sessions and our upcoming new Term of Tai Chi classes can be found on our website.

Want to know what Tai Chi is like? Come to one of our Come N Try Tai Chi events! We have events scheduled in Brookfield, Cedarburg and Glendale!

Can’t make it to any of our current locations? Let us know where you would like to see us start a new class.

Are you a community group or business that would like to offer Qigong to your members/community/employees? Check out our Corporate and Community Qigong program.

Category: News

Tags :

Category : Classes , News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy is pleased to announce we will be opening a new class in Cedarburg.

The new class will be held at Faith Lutheran Church on Tuesday mornings from 10-11am. Details can be found on our Classes page.

For a limited time new students who pre-register will be eligible to receive a $20.00 discount on their term fees! Register now to receive details of this offer.

Pay Fees Online

The Cedarburg class represents our fifth class as we continue to grow and make Tai Chi available to as many people as possible. We look forward to welcoming new students to our Cedarburg class.

Want to know what Tai Chi is like? Come to one of our Come N Try Tai Chi events! We have events scheduled in Brookfield, Cedarburg and Glendale!

Can’t make it to any of our current locations? Let us know where you would like to see us start a new class.

Are you a community group or business that would like to offer Qigong to your members/community/employees? Check out our Corporate and Community Qigong program.

Category: News

Tags :

Category : Classes , News

Wisconsin Tai Chi Academy is pleased to announce our new partnership with Momentum Movement Clinic and will be commencing a new Tai Chi class at their premises in Brookfield, Wisconsin, in April 2022. WTCA’s Founder and Instructor Ray Gates said the partnership with Momentum is “a natural fit”, as Tai Chi and Qigong practice together with the therapies offered by Momentum’s Owner and Structural Integrationist Lisa McNeil and her staff would be “highly complementary to one another, and should provide people with maximal health and wellness, particularly with regards to healthy, functional movement.”

Momentum’s Lisa McNeil is excited with the partnership. “Tai Chi and Qigong blend specific movements designed to stretch, strengthen, and re-balance injured or painful body regions with focused breathing and enhanced body awareness combining common sense and intuitive body wisdom. Bringing this movement practice to the clinic is going to help clients reach their mobility and pain goals,” she said.

Classes will be held Thursday mornings from April 7. Further information and registration is available in our Classes section.

The Latest from WTCA:

Categories

Theme Developed By Code Themes