Chinatown Tai Chi Center

It was in 1993 that april zvan first saw Tai Chi Chuan practitioners on the Bill Moyers PBS special "Mind and Body." The peaceful, balanced movements struck a chord. "I said to myself, 'I can do that,' and the next week I joined Sifu's class," recalls april, who spells her name lower case.

After several years, she has begun mastering the techniques she saw on TV. Her movements today are soft and quiet; her stances as rooted as an oak. "I'd always heard the terms 'being centered' and 'getting grounded,'" says april. "But I never had any idea how to become centered or grounded. It turns out that's what Tai Chi is about."

An eager student, april says she "likes most about Tai Chi whatever I'm learning at the moment." Yet it's teaching the art that brings her the greatest joy. "I like working with someone and seeing that 'Aha!' look on their face when they finally get it," she says.

Currently working as a technical writer, april holds a combined degree in engineering and psychology from the University of Minnesota. A devotee of Irish, jazz, and barbershop music, crochet, bobbin lace making, and especially tatting, she is also a movie buff who saw the Zorro movie more than seven times. "The swordplay is spectacular," april says. "And it doesn't hurt that Antonio Banderas is holding the sword."

Such is the lightness and humor that april tries to impart to students at the Chinatown Tai Chi Center school. "I want my students to relax and enjoy Tai Chi," she says. "Hey, if it isn't fun, why do it?"

But Tai Chi for april is more than a good time. She has worked for years to find balance and tranquility. Practicing Tai Chi, she says, helps her achieve that goal.

"Tai Chi has brought me a sense of calm, of rootedness," april says. Her goal is to achieve the harmony depicted by two earrings she often wears that, in Chinese, say beauty and tranquility. "Grandmaster saw those and said the tranquility was like the peace found on the surface of a calm lake. That's what I want my mind to be like"