We are very proud and excited to announce the long awaited (and overdue) raise in rank of Garry Williams to Associate Teacher in the Black Bamboo Pavilion Taijiquan School.  An Associate Teacher teaches a class on their own, with limited ongoing teacher training via private lessons vs. an Assistant Teacher who assists a primary teacher and is indispensable to classes.

On Saturday, February 1st, 2020, Garry was presented with his brown sash by LaoMa and honored with the rank of associate teacher.  This is a long overdue distinction as Garry has been teaching the Raleigh Tuesday class for a long time.

Garry has been with Black Bamboo for 18 years.  During that time, he has distinguished himself as, not only dedicated and knowledgeable, but also a great support and welcoming classmate and teacher. 

The use of sashes in our school originates from LaoMa’s time in China, where he was presented with sashes by his classmates when he was accepted as a student of Yeye’s.  Once he was part of their group, his classmates brought him homemade sashes.  Many were not the silk sashes we traditionally associate with Chinese Martial Arts today.  Rather they were elastic belts with snapped fasteners; they were cherished for many years afterwards. 

Garry’s brown sash serves as an outward signal to our students that he holds a higher rank than the majority of our senior students, who wear red.  We do not have a series of sash colors in our school, choosing to keep it simple with three colors.  The green represents a commitment to learn this art form, much like LaoMa’s acceptance into the Yeye’s school.  The red indicates a student who has completed the form and is working on a higher level of corrections and understanding.  The brown sash is reserved for students who have moved to some level of teacher status.  Garry has occupied this special status for many years now and we are happy to publicly recognize his achievement with us.

Many congratulations Garry!  You raise our rank along with your own!