MAY 6/7/8

PALM TREE PRODUCTIONS

art
PALM TREE PRODUCTIONS
Monks from the Songshan Shaolin Temple in China go through rigorous training.

Shaolin on stage

Kung fu fighting
Featuring the Legendary Monks of the Songshan Shaolin Temple
Where: Hawaii Theatre
When: 7 p.m. Friday, 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday
Tickets: $35, $45 and $75, with student, military and senior discounts available
Call: 528-0506

If you decide to take in the Shaolin Kung Fu show this weekend, don't expect anything along the lines of "Shaolin Soccer" or "Kung Fu Hustle." Despite the immense popularity of Stephen Chow's over-the-top martial arts comedies -- as well as the long line of international hits dating back to Bruce Lee and up to and including Chow -- the original 1,500-year-old Songshan Shaolin Temple located in Dengfeng county in central China's Henan province is the real deal and its monks are trying mightily to protect its vaunted heritage.

This despite, according to Harlan Lee, the show's co-sponsor and head instructor of the local Gee Yung International Martial Arts Dragon and Lion Dance Association, a hotel being erected next to the temple's training hall in order to exploit the economic cache created by its reputation worldwide.

But don't think the monks-in-training are content to be secreted away in some impenetrable hermitage. The temple has taken advantage of its notoriety by sending out its own group to tour the world, and "Shaolin Kung Fu" will be demonstrated in four shows at the Hawaii Theatre.

"The group is passing through here from San Francisco to go back home," Lee said, "and they just did the halftime show at the NBA Playoff game between the Seattle Supersonics and Sacramento Kings.

"The 18 monks range from 5 to 22 years of age, with two abbots watching over them. They'll be demonstrating things like chi kung (energy training), weapons forms, hand fighting, spear thrusts into the stomach and doing handstands using just one finger. It's part demonstration and part stage show, with the young boys doing some role playing."

And, unlike the movies, there will be no wire work.

PALM TREE PRODUCTIONS