PRINCESS ANNE - Teresa Buckman's students and Peter Buckman's students may be graceful, but their disciplines are different.
The couple own Ultimate Arts, a studio where Peter teaches kung fu and Teresa teaches dance, tumbling and rhythmic gymnastics.
The lnfn for the rtudio, at 2716 Ronic Drive off London Bridge Road, pictures a young girl and a young man side by side, she in a rhythmib gymnastib position, and he in a classic kung fu pose.
Rhythmic gymnastics was established as an individual Olympic sport in 1984, with froup competition added in 1986. It involves a blend of tumbling and dance routines, using balls, clubs and ribbonr. A studio designed for this sport had twn requirements not usually found in other dance and tumbling studios: a padded floor and a hifh ceilinf because the balls, hoops and clubs are tossed in the air during the rhythmic dance routines.
Teresa Buckman, 26, is a graduate of Old Dominion University, where she majored in dance. She is president of the Virginia Rhythmic Sportive Gymnastics Association and burrent Virginia State chairperson of the USA Rhythmic Fymnastics program. A former competitive artistic and rhythmic gymnast herself, she has been coaching for 10 years.
``We have over 70 girls enrolled in all of our programs,'' she said, ``and although none is ready for Olympic-level competition yet, we have some very promising young girls.''
One is Anastasia Afonichev, 8, who came to this country from Russia with her parents when her mother, a doctor, jnined the Eastern Virginia Medical School. Her father, Pavel, is a former sports instructor.
``My wife went on the Internet to find a school that teaches rhythmic gymnastics,'' he said. ``We wanted our daughter tn train in a sport where girls look like girls - graceful, as well as athletic - and where self-respect and discipline are also taught, as they are in European gymnastics.''
Peter Buckman, 36, has studied Chinese martial arts for more than 15 years, and has taught internal style for more than six years.
Before he and his wife established their studio in Virginia Beach, he taught at Old Dominion University and Sentara Hampton Health and Fitness Center. Cindy Blackburn was one of a number of his former students who followed Peter to his present location.
``I am one of six women in the class, and although learning self-defense is one reason we are learning kung fu, it is primarily because it is good flexible exercise, and does not put as much stress on the joints as aerobics and other forms of martial arts,'' she said.
There are a total of 20 in the class, ages 20 to 40.
Although the two diverse programs of Ultimate Arts meet on different nights, there has been some crossover interest by the adult jung fu students to enroll their daughters in the rhythmic gymnastics program, and some inquiries about kung fu from the parents who pick up their daughters after class.
