| Dan Schwarz was born in France on 10th November 1946. His first exposure to martial arts was through his father, who had been a student of Kawaishi Mikinosuke (who led the development of Judo in France). His father was his first instructor, teaching him Judo and boxing. Later he took up fencing and also became a Karate student of Hoang Nam (father of Marc Hoang Nghi).
Dan discovered Kung Fu in1964 when he was 17 years old, he said that one time while training in the park, a Chinese man (who had never seen Karate before) asked him about what he was doing. The following conversation led to the man bringing up Chinese Kung Fu, but despite Dan's request the man said he couldn't teach him and suggested he find a master in China. Dan then attempted to do just that, but his visa application was denied so he instead went to Hong Kong.
In Hong Kong Dan studied under the world famous Wing Chun master Ip Man. He then learned Mantis under Master Kao Tao Sheng and continued to study martial arts in Hong Kong and Taiwan before finally managing to go to China and learning from masters there.
After returning from Asia, Dan went to university and began working in local movies. In 1973 he was invited to work on the TV series Karatekas And Co., he helped stage some of the action, coached the series' star Jean Marais and also worked a stuntman. He even got an acting credit as one of the henchmen in the final episode, titled Quelque Part En Méditerranée. He would go on to have a steady career in stunt work and action directing for French films and TV, also Hollywood projects that were shot in movies in France.
He became the 1st European to compete in the Kung Fu Championship in Taiwan in 1978, he became vice-champion by team in the under 60kg category and also won the medal for Most Technical Fighter. During this event his coach was none other than martial arts movie star John Liu Chung-liang. The two would later work together on the martial arts movie Zen Kwun Do Strikes In Paris, which was written and directed by John Liu himself.
In 1983 Dan took on the role of coach and captain of the French team for the Taiwan Kung Fu World Championship, as captain he won a bronze medal in his matches. The team (including several of his own students) was: Tony Dehas (injured in Taiwan); Roger Itier (Dan's student since age 13); Lachemi Dehas; Alain Saadoun; J.-M. Touche; Eugene Charlery; T. Prusvost; M. F. Billaud; Pol Charoy. This was the 1st international comp for the French team, and it was very successful: the team won the silver medal; many of the members won golds in their categories; and Pol became 1st World Champion.
Since opening his first Kung Fu club in 1972, he went on to become: the French Federation Kung-Fu Wushu national technical director; the president of the Kung-Fu Wushu Federation; the president of CNKW; a member of the National Wushu Commission with the FFKDA; and the founder of Shaolin Tao in France.
J.J. Hayden [12May2023] | 
