The Monsoon Society supports various projects to promote SE Asian cultural arts that its membership proposes. This is an incomplete list representing a weekly training programme, an annual festival event, and an on-going organization.
Pencak Silat Sunda (Vancouver) – Saturday Nov 26, 2022
Monsoon Society is please to promote the cultural arts of Indonesia in this unique exploration of Pencak Silat Sunda and related practices. This event will be graciously hosted by the Monsoon Society. It is free and open to the public, although space will be limited to manage endemic C-19 risks.
Registration is required for the event – please register here
Beat the Crap Out of Cancer XIII – Nov 6, 2022
This is the 13th year that Beat the Crap Out of Cancer will mount an armed combatives fund-raiser in 5 cities around North America – Vancouver, NYC, Boston, LA, and Chicago. Monsoon Society is supporting BTCOOC in Vancouver at the Academie Duello location through its organization member maelstrom Martial Arts
See the event page for details:
BSANA Virtual Summits – an online training summit – 2020, 2021, 2022
Buddhai Sawan Association of North America, in a partnership with the Monsoon Society, presents a unique training opportunity to the public and its instructor and student membership – a 10 week series of on-line training sessions featuring top instructors of Thai krabi krabong and yoga from across North America, with special guest instructors from Thailand.
See the BSANA Virtual Summit page for details.
maelstrom Martial Arts – a training programme
maelstrom Martial Arts is a regular training programme undertaken by the collective of certified maelstrom instructors. Training in various SE Asian martial arts is available to the public through memberships at the Ancient Fire Dojo in Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Since 2012, Monsoon Society has provided the resources required for maelstrom Martial Arts to operate year-round, providing 10-12 hours/week of instruction in 4 different cultural arts from 10 different instructors. Certification up to instructor level is an option for dedicated members.
See the maelstrom Martial Arts website for details of the martial arts taught, and its instructors. See Ancient Fire Dojo website for schedule, memberships, and facilities information:
Southeast Asian Cultural Arts Festival (SEACAF)
A free festival in Vancouver, BC Canada for the cultural arts of SE Asia – SEACAF events took place 2008-2015, with support from Monsoon (and other sponsors) provided from 2012 to 2015.
Buddhai Sawan Association of North America
The Thai weapons arts are not as well known as the sport of Muay Thai. They are unique to the region, sharing historical roots with the fighting arts of Myanmar, and generally referred to as “krabi krabong” or “short and long”. Krabi krabong is marked by a focus on use of double swords or daab. Few other cultural weapon arts have that focus – one other being Filipino eskrima or kali.
Krabi krabong persists in Thailand as a cultural practice – adopted by royalty and the military as hallmarks of the Thai people and pride. One particular academy of krabi krabong was the Buddhai Sawan Institute of Swordsmanship located in Bangkok. A number of its adherents in N. America trained there and brought back this rare cultural art. However, until 2018, there was little progress developing a broad community of students and standardizing the ranking and curriculum.
The Buddhai Sawan Association of North America (BSANA) was established in partnership with the Monsoon Society in 2018 in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the 2nd Annual Buddhai Sawan Summit. The three leading proponents of Buddhai Sawan krabi krabong who trained at the Bangkok instituted (now defunct) formed the organization. Information and resources of the new organization are hosted by Monsoon Society.
