Biography

Robert Loughridge has been an instructor at the University of Rochester in the Program of Dance and Movement since 2001 teaching courses in T'ai Chi and Qi Gong. He earned a B.A. in English from Alfred University and has a M.A. in English from SUNY Brockport. Bob began his study of T'ai Chi and Qi Gong with Dr. Chunlei Lu, a Chinese National Scholar and continues to pursue his studies by attending workshops with a variety of recognized T'ai Chi practitioners including Chen Xiaoxing, Yang Yang, Zhu Tiancai, Chen Ziqiang, Ren Guang Yi, Jiang Jian-Ye, Tim Cartmell and others. In addition to his study of Taijiquan, his martial arts background of over 35 years includes advanced black belt levels in Isshin Ryu Karate and Tae Kwon Do. He has also participated in master classes with dance instructors including Simone Forti, Sean Curran, Nancy Stark Smith, Bill Evans, and others. He is especially interested in introducing students to the idea of the "Scholar Warrior", as expressed in the saying "One's martial achievement lies in the cultural and one's cultural achievements lie in the martial." and embodied in the ideal of achieving mastery through an integration of many arts including brush painting and calligraphy, poetry, music, philosophy, martial arts, sport, and dance.