From escrima to boxing, martial arts is an integral part of Filipino and Filipino American culture. Many Filipino immigrants like Pancho Villa and Flash Elorde became famous for their boxing skills and became a source of pride for many Filipino Americans. Legendary escrima master, Leo Giron, founded one of the nation’s first schools of escrima and is known as the father of the Larga Mano style of Filipino martial arts. His protégé, Dan Inosanto, continues to inspire and teach many disciplines of martial arts.

This program will screen the documentary film, The Great Pinoy Boxing Era (Corky Pasquil and Agrafino Edralin) and host a panel discussion and demonstration on Filipino martial arts. The Great Pinoy Boxing Era is an insightful portrayal of the Filipino men who came to the U.S. not only as farm laborers and as prize-winning boxers during the 1920s and 1930s. The film will be followed by a presentation from Professor Linda España-Maram along with presentations and demonstrations by internationally renowned martial artists Dan Inosanto and Rosie Abriam. Gem Daus of the University of Maryland-College Park will serve as moderator.
The film can be viewed here: http://www.mybarong.com/great-pinoy-boxing-high-bandwidth-version-art-1082.html
10/27/10 05:39PM