Gura Michelle Bautista

Otherwise known here as the webmistress, Gura Michelle Bautista has been training in the School of Kamatuuran Kali since 1994. She has done Kali demonstrations and lectures throughout the San Francisco Bay Area including at SF State, Pacific Association of Women Martial Artists Bay Area Demo, Arkipelago Books, and EBMud Asian Pacific Heritage Celebration.

She received 2nd place in the US national women open forms division at the WEKAF (World Escrima Kali Arnis Federation) championships and 3rd place in the international competition held in Cebu City, Philippines in August 2000.

By day she works as a Macintosh Technical Support person at UC Berkeley, her alma mater. Along with being a martial artist she is also a writer. Her work has been published in several anthologies, including "Babaylan:Anthology of Filipina Writers."

What drew her to Kali:

"I had done a couple of semesters of Judo at Cal, but didn't like getting pounded into the ground much, so I looked for another school. I knew I had wanted do something Filipino. I had looked at a few schools but didn't find anything compelling for me there.

I happened across a Kali demo Tuhan and Guro Ira did at Hayward State for a Filipino conference. Guro Ira made such an attractive Blind Princess. I just sat there watching intently. It wasn't like anything I'd ever seen before.

Oddly enough, I had met Tuhan a year prior (but I don't recall any of it). He had remembered me and spoke to me about the classes he was teaching. I hadn't thought much about it at first. The classes were too far. He had really wanted me to go to the women's class on Saturday 8am in Castro Valley. yeah, right. Instead I went to his San Francisco evening class.

I dragged my cousin, my friend and his brother along with me. I wasn't going to enter a room by myself. Good to bring a few big guys for protection.

The class used to be in this warehouse, just off the Bridge which housed numerous sweat shops. We took the rickety elevator up the 6 flights, down a hallway following the sounds of sticks and voices. We stayed for a class, did a few basics and watched some sparring at the end. The second I had a stick in my hand, I knew that this was something I needed to do.

What struck me about the school was that it wasn't just a bunch of young 20-something guys, like many of the schools, where the only women were girlfriends of guys there. There were also 3 other women there including Gura Rosie and Gura Donnalyn. So there were not only women, but advanced women, and people of all ages.

For me, it meant that this was something I could do for a lifetime and not just when I'm young."

Other Items found on this site: A Gura's Journal