THE FORGOTTEN (FEMALE) PIONEERS OF TAI CHI

IN THE WEST
FIGHTLAND BLOG
By Charles Russo

Gerda Geddes (left). Photo courtesy of her daughter, Harriet Devlin / Sophia Delza (right). Photo courtesy of the NY
Public Library

Gerda Geddes first encountered tai chi at dawn.

Walking the misty morning streets of Shanghai in 1949, she observed an old Chinese man performing
slow, meditative movements in an open field. As a formally trained modern dancer from Norway,
Geddes quickly fell spellbound to the spectacle: As I watched I had a sensation of hot and cold
streaming up and down my spineand I remember thinking, This is what I have been looking for all
my life.
Oddly enough, Geddes wasnt alone in her interest. Sophia Delzaan American with her own
established career in dance and choreographywas also compelled to learn the Chinese martial art of
tai chi while in Shanghai during that very same year. Like most westerners at the time, neither women
had any exposure to tai chi, but both quickly found value in what they were witnessing. In a pair of
trailblazing scenarios that defied the eras well-established boundaries of race and gender, Geddes
and Delza trained separately under renowned tai chi masters before then bringing the Chinese martial

art back to their home countries. In a curious mirror image of one another, the two women played
pioneering though widely forgotten roles within the early martial arts culture of the West, spreading tai
chi far beyond China, and launching it towards its current incarnation of a thriving global culture.
+++
Tai chi is easily one of the most popular martial arts in the world today, with daily practitioners around
the globe numbering in the millions. Yet, if the centuries-old Chinese art is widely embraced across
cultures and age groups, it has been more for health and recreation than for its martial applications. In
this regard, it can be easily forgotten that tai chi originated as a fighting art, and that it falls under the
wide umbrella of Chinese kung fu.
Although its origins are often shrouded in folklore, tai chi chuanwhich translates as supreme
ultimate fistmost likely emerged several centuries ago from Taoist monks in China, at a time when
martial systems had great relevance amid the violent social realities of the era. Over time tai chi would
evolve to be increasingly characterized as a soft fighting style, which seeks to redirect an opponents
energy and motion to work against them.
The arts emphasis on slow movement, breathing and other notions of Qigong (or, energy cultivation)
have made it increasingly appealing over time as a healthy exercise apart from any martial context.
While numerous systems of kung fu fighting styles have battled for relevance in recent years, tai chis
popularity is surging in the 21st century, especially as contemporary research increasingly qualifies the
health benefits that have long been touted by its practitioners.
As martial arts historian Ben Judkins writes, the medical benefits of practices like Taijiquan have
been discussed from time to time in the West for more than a century. Yet only recently have medical
professionals dedicated the attention and resources necessary to systematically test and describe the
benefits of Taiji for a wide number of (most chronic) conditions.

Sophia Delza practicing tai chi. Negatives courtesy of the NY Public Library

Clinical studies in recent years have linked practicing tai chi to a wide range of health benefits,
including the reduction of heart disease, curbing stress and improving the overall physical well-being
of seniors. Last year, the British Journal of Sports Medicine suggested that the beneficial attributes of
practicing tai chi were substantial enough that it should possibly even be prescribed by doctors to
address a variety of conditions, including diabetes and arthritis.
It boils down to relevance, explains Jess OBrien, author of the book Nei Ji Quan: Internal Martial
Arts, Northern Praying Mantis [fighting style] is not for everyone, but tai chi is well-suited to the public
need. For most people, the appeal is in its mind/body training.
This modern appeal is especially fascinating to consider in the historical context of Delza and Geddes,
who both envisioned tai chi's relevance and potential health benefits more than a half century ago, but
were eventually forgotten amid more masculine martial art storylines.
+++
By the time they traveled to China in the late 1940s, Delza and Geddes had already lived colorful lives.

Delza had been born to a bohemian family in Brooklyn, surrounded by art and liberal politics. She
trained in modern dance, studying in Paris for a time, before returning to New York for a career that
spanned stage and film. In 1928 she danced opposite James Cagney in the Grand Street Follies on
Broadway, and later performed solo recitals at notable theaters around the city. In following her
husband to Shanghai in 1948, Delza quickly broke ground as the first American dancer to perform and
lecture in Chinese theaters and dance schools.

Sophia Delza. Photos courtesy of the NY Public Library

Geddes was born to high class society in Norway. Like Delza she trained in modern dance at a young
age, before then studying psychotherapy under controversial psychiatrist Wilhelm Reich at the
University of Oslo. As a young adult Geddes joined the resistance against the Nazi occupation, and
after a series of dramatic encounters she escaped to Sweden hidden beneath a cart of lumber. By the
time she followed her husband to Shanghai in 1949, she was developing an idea to merge her studies
in dance and psychotherapy to create some kind of physically-oriented approach to mental therapy.
Yet as she watched the old man perform tai chi at dawn, Geddes realized she no longer had to
invent such a system, since the Chinese had seemingly been cultivating one for centuries. Even still,
the notion of a western women learning the Chinese martial arts was unprecedented at the time.
These Chinese men had very great trouble with me because women didnt do tai chi in those days,
Geddes would later explain. Most women still had bound feet.
Even as they were confronted by a Chinese martial arts code excluding foreigners and women, a
sizable language barrier, and the tumultuous circumstances in China after the Communists came to
power, both Geddes and Delza still managed to study with established Chinese masters. Delza
studied Wu style tai chi under celebrated practitioner Mah Yueh-ling in Shanghai, and then returned to
promote the arts in New York City. Conversely, Geddes learned Yang style tai chi under Choy Hak
Peng in Hong Kong before returning to teach in England. In the same time and environment that a

teenage Bruce Lee was banned from Ip Mans Wing Chun school on account of his quarter European
ancestry, these were revolutionary relationships that defied the social boundaries of their era.

Sophia Delza in Popular Mechanics, October 1960

Back in Europe, Geddess efforts to promote tai chi were initially met with confusion and disinterest,
while Delza quickly found traction by showcasing the arts in high profile settings around New York City.
In 1954 she staged a public demonstration at the Museum of Modern Art. As Judkins explains, this
was a landmark moment for martial arts culture in America: In 1954 there were virtually no public
performances or demonstrations of any sort of Chinese Martial Art at all. Catching a glimpse of Lion
Dancing at the Lunar New Year, or a short demonstration by the Chinese student association at a
University's "international festival," was the closest that most American might ever come to seeing the
Chinese martial arts. The interest that was generated from these demonstrations would soon lead to
Delza conducting regular tai chi classes at Carnegie Hall and the United Nations, pre-dating some of
the earliest modern martial arts outfits in America (including Ed Parkers Kenpo Karate school in
Pasadena circa 1957 and Bruce Lees teaching in Seattle beginning in 1959). In the UK, Geddess
efforts finally gained momentum at the London Contemporary School of Dance, which eventually
incorporated her classes into their freshmen curriculum. Within a year of each other, both women gave
what were presumably the first televised tai chi demonstrations in their respective countries.
In 1961, Delza also authored what is possibly the first English language book ever written on the
Chinese martial arts: Tai-Chi Chuan: Body and Mind in Harmony. As she explained in the opening

chapter, her intentions were to bring to the attention of Western people this ancient masterpiece of
health exercisewhichis supremely suitable in these modern times. But if Delza and Geddes had a
health and even spiritually-oriented vision for an ancient art in the modern world, it was an entirely
different martial arts future that soon commanded the spotlight.
+++
By the early 1960s, martial arts culture in the west was still in its infancy, though poised to take off
towards a substantial popularity. Since the early part of the century, the Japanese art of judo had been
crossing borders, and was the first Asian martial art to noticeably take root in the Western world (in
fact, President Theodore Roosevelt had trained with a Japanese judo master for a time at the White
House. In his more overzealous moments, Roosevelt was known to exhibit judo techniques on young
men visiting the Oval Office). During World War II, many servicemen were exposed to the Okinawan
striking art of karate, and returned home resolved to continue practicing it and promoting its culture. Ed
Parker held his first Long Beach International Karate Tournament in 1964, the same summer that judo
was first introduced into competition at the Olympic Games. In 1965, Los Angeles-based kung fu
master Ark Wong asserted in print that he would no longer restrict teaching only Chinese students and
that enrollment was now wide open to anyone with dedicated interest.
In 1966, Bruce Lees role as Kato on the Green Hornet was the spark that finally lit the fuse. Lees
performances were a game-changing spectacle that captured the publics imagination and quickly
pushed martial arts culture to a booming modern popularity. By the early 70s, the kung fu craze was
in full swing, and the mind and body health culture envisioned by Geddes and Delza took a quiet back
seat to a new male-dominated martial arts culture. Hyperbolic action movies and promises of esoteric
fighting techniques emphasized the fighting component of the equation, and sold the Asian martial arts
to the west in a big way.

Gerda Geddes. Photo courtesy of her daughter, Harriet Devlin

As newly-minted enthusiasts devoured the latest martial arts media, the contributions of Delza and
Geddes didnt quite fit the prevailing narrative of dynamic male fighting skills, and in turn the two
women were largely excluded from coverage. Despite almost singlehandedly introducing the Chinese
martial art of tai chi to their respective continents as well as conducting longterm careers that spanned
four decades and thousands of students, neither Delza nor Geddes ever received any significant
coverage from Blackbelt Magazine, the perennial publication of record for the martial arts community.
Popular culture is made up as much by forgetting things as discovering them, explains Judkins.
Delza was essentially erased from the popular memory. We could only have Bruce Lee and the kung
fu craze as a new and exciting phenomenon if we all kind of pretended that Delza hadnt already
shown us many of these things 15 years earlier.
In fact, when Delzas name was mentioned within the martial arts community as an early proponent of
tai chi, it often surfaced in the form of criticism, contending that her lack of martial emphasis
constituted an incomplete system.
Jess OBrien, whose book Nei Jia Quan profiles a diverse group of tai chi masters, defends the
legacies of Delza and Geddes by asserting that the definition of the Chinese martial arts isnt onedimensional. People want the Chinese martial arts to have a definition, but there is no one singular
goal, explains OBrien, tai chi is multi-faceted and can take you down multiple pathways. And there
are people who say that it needs to be about fighting, but if its embraced as a meditative or healing art
there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Sophia Delza. Photo courtesy of the NY Public Library

As dancers, both Delza and Geddes had initially embraced tai chi as an alternative and far more
holistic approach to dance and movement, essentially a tangible antidote to the prevailing harsh
physical expectations of their industry. In time, Delza would continue to promote tai chi through a
health-oriented perspective, while Geddes would increasingly embrace it as an avenue towards
spirituality. Even still, both women were keenly aware that they were practicing something that
ultimately was a martial art, even if fighting was never their goal.
In the long run, despite criticism and obscurity, Delza and Geddes appear to have prevailed in their
vision. In the course of sowing the seeds for tai chi in the West, their students (and their students
students) now teach in countries around the world. Since their passingDelza in 1996 and Geddes in
2006tai chis popularity has only skyrocketed around the world, while its health benefits are
increasingly backed by clinical studies. Conversely, so many of the kung fu fighting styles that once
commanded the spotlight have since struggled to attract followers in the 21st century.
Theres a very fitting, soft-style logic to this: Delza and Geddes were quietly successful in their vision,
even as their louder martial counterparts have fallen on hard times.
Charles Russo is a journalist in San Francisco. He is the author of Striking Distance: Bruce Lee and
the Dawn of Martial Arts in America, which chronicles the pioneering martial arts scene in the San
Francisco Bay Area during the early 1960s.

Ven pane Nemansk,

rd bych se zeptal, gdy se bude uspodat kurs ,, kolen chiromas oblieje, hlavy a
krku,, , v nejbli dob. Dkuji Vm za odpov.
Darko Perovi
Jablonec nad Nisou

recepce@aparthotel-jablonec.cz, info@rehavital.cz,
info@ayky.cz, caferafael@seznam.cz,
ivana.styl@seznam.cz, info@chatabalada.cz,
restaurant@hotelepocha.cz, info@slovanka.eu,
papousek@pension-majak.cz, hotel@brizky.cz
Ven majitel a provozovatel ubytovacch kapacit,
rd bych nabdl sv masrsk sluby pro vae hosty bhem zimn sezny. Jsem mobiln
masr, zabvm se relaxan a rekondin mas. Mm zkuenosti s masemi v
salnu, v penzionech, hotelch a spa centrech. V ploze zaslm popis jednotlivch
mas s cenami.

Pokud Vs nabdka oslov, uvtm osobn setkn a rd mas pedvedu.

Dkuji.
Darko Perovi
mobiln masr
tel. 725 933 715
havajskamasaz@seznam.cz

Ven pan Beov,

rd bych se uchzel o Vmi nabzen msto masra. Uvdm pr informac o
masch, kter provdm. Nejvce se vnuji havajsk masi Lomi lomi. Tuto
mas povauji za jednu z nejkompletnjch, psob na psychofyzick rovni a dle
mho nzoru ji meme povaovat za celostn terapeutickou metodu. Krom tto
mase mm absolvovan kurz klasick mase a AMMA mase.
Krom toho se 14 let zabvm bojovm umnm (aikido, tai chi) a ve, co jsem se
pitom nauil (nap. sprvn biomechanika tla masra pi masi umouje vy
inek samotnch masnch technik, stejn jako znalosti o meridinech, kter se
u v tchto asijskch bojovch umnch), dnes mohu pi masi vyuvat. S pomoc
tchto znalost praktikuji energetickou mas Dech ivota, kter je sestavena z vce
druh mas. Clem je rozproudit ivotn slu tla, kter asem vede k samolb.
Tahy jsou provdny po cel dlce tla bez peruen plynulho toku mase. Draz
kladu pedevm do oblast energetickch center (v nskm jazyce Ming men brna
ivota a Chi hai moe energie), kter jsou zodpovdn za normln proudn
ivotn energie. Jejich aktivovnm dochz do volnho prtoku energie v tle a
odbourvn psychofyzickch blokd v rznch stech tla. Tuto mas povauji za
hlubokou relaxan mas.
V souasn dob masruji v salnu v Liberci, kde budu do konce bezna a
pleitostn pro hotely Pytloun a hotel Premier v Bedichov v Jizerskch horch.
Pi osobnm setkn bych Vm mas rd pedvedl, abyste mli pedstavu, co
umm.
S pozdravem
Darko Perovi
Jablonec nad Nisou
Tel. 725 933 715

Dobr den pan Olgo! lut povlak na jazyku skuten

nen zcela normln. Svd o nerovnovze mikrob v

trvicm traktu (dutina stn a steva) a vtinou i

poruchch trven (aludek, lunk, steva). Me bt
pi zcp i nedostatenm vyprazdovn stolice. Jinak
zmny "chut" a nlad v souvislosti s jdlem se s vkem
asto "dramaticky" mn. Zkuste dvat co nejjednodu
jdla, vyvarovat se kravskmu mlku a omezit bl
peivo. Ke strav mete pidat Probio-fix baby i
Laktobaclky, dle B-komplex kapky, dti mvaj
nedostatek nkterch B-vitamin. Jazek mete istit
jemnm silikonovm kartkem na prst. Pokud by pote
i pesto trvaly, zajdte na kontrolu k dtskmu lkai.
Ven pan Hlubkov,
rd bych Vm nabdl svoje masrsk sluby. Nejvce se
vnuji havajsk masi, nebo ji povauji za jednu
z nejkompletnjch mas, psob na psychofyzick
rovni a dle mho nzoru je to celostn terapeutick
metoda. V tomto obdob ivota nejsem ve fzi, e bych
chtl bt vestrannm masrem, spe bych se chtl
pln vnovat tto masi. Vimnul jsem si, e ve Vaem
studiu ji mas lomi lomi nabzte, pesto vm, e
kad masr m svj rukopis a e stejn druh mase
jet neznamen stejnou rove jejho provdn.
Krom toho se 14 let zabvm bojovm umnm (aikido,
tai chi) a ve, co jsem se pitom nauil, nap. sprvn
biomechanika tla masra pi masi, kter umouje
vy inek samotnch masnch technik, stejn jako
znalosti o meridinech, kter se u v tchto asijskch
bojovch umnch, mohu dnes pi masi vyuvat.
S pomoc tchto znalost praktikuji energetickou mas
Dech ivota, kter je sestavena z vce druh mas.
Clem je rozproudit ivotn slu naeho tla, kter asem
vede k samolb. Tahy jsou provdny po cel dlce
tla bez peruen plynulho toku mase. Draz kladu
pedevm do oblast energetickch center (v nskm
jazyce Ming men brna ivota a Chi hai moe

energie), kter jsou zodpovdn za normln proudn

ivotn energie. Jejich aktivovnm dochz do volnho
prtoku energie v tle a odbourvn psychofyzickch
blokd v rznch stech tla.
V souasn dob masruji v salnu v Liberci, na hotelech
Pytloun a hotelu Premier v Bedichov.
Pi osobnm setkn bych Vm rd mas pedvedl.
S pozdravem
Darko Perovi
Tel. 725 933 715
P.S. Kontakt na Vs jsem zskal od pana Antoe, kter
rozv Kolkovo peivo, a jemu jste dala vizitku.
, .


. ,
. ,
. .
, .

, .
( ,
)
.
() (), .
, , , ,
, , ,
. , , .
,
.
,
, .
,
, ,
. , ,
, , ,
. -
. , .
. , ,
. , .
, -
. , , -
, , .

, .


. . ,
.
.
, -
, .
.
, .. ,
. , , , -
.
,
, - .
, , :
, -
;
-
;
- .
, ,
.
,
,
, , ,
. ,
.
, ,
, - , .
,
. ,
. ,
.
, , .., -
.