Magic Tortoise Jia Taijiquan LaoShi:  Almanzo "Lao Ma" Lamoureux is Senior Teacher with the Magic Tortoise Taijiquan School in the Triangle area of North Carolina. He has practiced Chinese arts for over three decades, and was the founder and chief instructor, from 1975, of the Tidewater Tai-Chi Club (and a co-founder of the Tidewater Tai-Chi Center) in Norfolk, Virginia. From Oct-Nov 1975, LaoMa made his first visit to China, traveling to various Minority Chinese Regions, and having the grand opportunity of playing taijiquan with groups of ordinary people from Beijing to Xian to Kunming, Xishuangbanna, Changsha and Shanghai. He received his M.A. in Asian Studies at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia in 1980. Living and working in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China from 1985 to 1988, he was the first and only foreign student at 91 year old Grandmaster Ding, Hong Kuai's Wuchang Snake Hill Pavilion School. Under Ding "YeYe's" tutelage, LaoMa placed first in weapons competition in Hankou's Hubei Provincial Wushu Tournament in 1987 where he demonstrated guaigun (hooked cane). In May of 1986 LaoMa made his first pilgrimage to Wudangshan in western Hubei Province, the sacred Daoist Mountains of Taijiquan's origin. He has returned to China often, studying with many teachers and visiting sacred sites. LaoMa has served as form and push-hands judge in numerous tournaments sponsored by the U.S. Wushu-Kung Fu Federation, and as chief judge in the U.S.C.K.F.'s United States International Kuoshu Championship Tournaments. Through the Magic Tortoise Taijiquan School, LaoMa has taught taijiquan and qigong at Duke University's Center for Living and Duke Diet and Fitness Center. Since 1994 he has also been the principal internal martial arts instructor at the United Martial Arts Center, Raleigh NC, and the U.S. Tae Kwon Do Institute, Durham NC.