Our Instructors
Master Teacher
Millicent Hodson
In the mid 1970’s I began Chinese martial arts and meditation in New York with United Nations translator and writer Da Liu then acquired Capoeira fighting skills with Brazilian master Loremil Machado. In the 1980’s I relocated to London and studied Yang Taiji and calligraphy with Rose Li. In the 1990’s at Dr. Linjun Wen’s San Ling Wushu College I studied Yang, sword and fan with him and Huang Ping as well as Baqua Zhang, a circular fighting form derived from Taoist meditation. In 2004 I joined Taiji Circle in Camden to study Chen style and multiple weapons with Master Liu Quan Jun for two decades. In 2008 I joined Master Gianna Sabatelli’s Chen school in Rome and completed ten years of her master teacher training. Meanwhile I studied with many visiting masters from China, frequently with Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang and Chen Zi Jiang as well as European masters Jan Silberstoff, Eva Kaskuba and Malek Balinski.
QUALIFICATIONS
Taiji Quan and Baqua Zhang Teacher Training Diploma
San Ling Wushu College, London
Ying Hard Qigong
DaBei Teacher Training Course
Taiji Circle, London
Chen Taiji Quan Teacher Training Diplomas
Il Campo del Cinabro and UISP (Italian Union of Sport for All), Rome
4th Level Chinese Wushu Duan Wei
Chinese Wushu Association
ASSOCIATIONS
A founder of the Wushu Circle, London
Tai Chi Union of Great Britain, Senior Instructor
British Council for Chinese Martial Arts
Dance and the study of anatomy for dancers and athletes undergird all my teaching. As a choreographer I work with scenic consultant Kenneth Archer in our partnership Ballets Old & New (hodson-archer.com). Together we have created fight scenes and designed weapons for ballet and opera. As a graphic artist I have illustrated articles and videos on martial arts and exhibited drawings of my Taiji masters and partners, The history and theory of Taiji Quan I study as a parallel to my publications as a dance historian.
A Eucalyptus grove in the San Francisco Bay Area where I first saw Taiji practiced. After morning dance classes I sometimes walked in Golden Gate Park and one day came upon a couple of incalculable age, their silk tunics hanging from bones that looked as breakable as tree branches. But they moved with such silent power and grace that it took my breath away, or maybe joined mine to theirs. When a uniformed park officer came up to me, he smiled and said. “Never saw it before?” I shook my head. “That’s Taiji. Lots on the street in Chinatown daily. But it’s most magical here.” Those Eucalyptus ghosts have haunted my Taiji through decades of dedication to the art.
