About me


I have been training continuously in martial arts since 1981.  My studies have included the following:
  • Okinawan karate; and
  • the Chen Pan Ling system of gong fu (kung fu), including taiji (tai chi), bagua (pa kua), xingyi (hsing i) and shaolin (hard style gong fu); and
  • traditional Chinese grappling and throwing arts known as qin na (chin na); and
  • various weapons arts from China, Japan and the Philippines (including arnis/escrima/kali).
Master Chen and I after the bai shi ceremony in
Kaohsiung, Taiwan in 2009
In 2009 I was accepted as a first generation bai shi (inner door student) of Grandmaster Chen Yun Ching of Taiwan, son of the late Chen Pan Ling.  In that capacity I share in the honour and obligation of preserving the encyclopedic body of traditional knowledge passed down from Chen Pan Ling to his son Chen Yun Ching.

I am one of the few instructors  teaching rarer “internal” arts such as xingyiquan (hsing i chuan) and baguazhang (pa kua chang) in the Perth area, and certainly one of the only instructors fortunate to have a direct  (first generation) lineage to one of China’s grandmasters.

I am currently the Chief Instructor of the Academy of Traditional Fighting Arts based at the Bayswater Martial Arts and Yoga Centre in Perth, Western Australia.

I hold separate classes in karate/weapons and the gong fu (kung fu). Prospective students, whether in karate (including weapons arts) or  gong fu (kung fu) (including taiji/tai chi only), are welcome to contact me at dan@dandjurdjevic.com or via the Academy’s website.

I am the author of the award-winning blog on this website as well as two upcoming books “Essential Jo” and “Understanding Karate”.  I have a number of other projects “in the pipeline” (as always!).

I am also the founder and administrator of the Traditional Fighting Arts Forum – a place where serious traditional martial artists can discuss technical, historical and philosophical matters pertaining to traditional martial arts of all kinds.

I am committed to teaching the traditional martial arts not as a sport, but as a method of practical self defence, a holistic platform for health, fitness and well-being, and a means of artistic cultivation and expression.  I feel that traditional martial arts such as karate, taiji (tai chi) and other gong fu (kung fu) styles are ideally suited to this purpose.

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