Winnipeg martial arts teacher with Hollywood credentials shares heritage with Filipino community

For Winnipeg-born martial arts instructor Alvin Catacutan, who’s trained with big Hollywood stars like Keanu Reeves, it’s about more than self-defence and staying fit.

Teaching Kali, the national martial art of the Philippines, is a way for Catacutan to share his heritage with the next generation of Filipino leaders in the city he grew up in.

“It’s everything. It’s on the ground, it’s standing up, it’s weapons of opportunity for your self-defence, empty hands, kicking… whatever it takes to survive and to thrive, it’s Kali,” Catacutan told CityNews. “And that’s the Filipino way.”

Catacutan runs his own martial arts studio in California – Pamana Kali – and works in Hollywood. But he’s often back in Winnipeg to visit family, and teach.

“It’s my hometown,” the martial artist said of Winnipeg. “In Joseph Campbell’s ‘hero’s journey,’ the hero goes out and finds treasure and then brings it back home. I’m not saying I’m a hero, but I do want to bring back the treasures that I’ve found out in my adventures and bring it back home to my family and bring it back home to my community.”

Catacutan has trained alongside many actors, like Reeves and the late Chadwick Boseman. He says Filipinos and Kali techniques, blended with other forms of martial arts, are at the forefront of many action movies, including blockbusters like John Wick and Black Panther.

“We have a pre-colonial southeast Asian fighting arts, blended in with a European arts,” said Catacutan. “And not just Spanish – Dutch, French, Spanish, Portuguese. Anything that we could get a hold of as useful, we made use of it.”

Martial arts instructor Alvin Catacutan gives private lesson to Logan St. Laurent in Winnipeg Sept. 24, 2023. (Joanne Roberts, CityNews)

Logan St. Laurent spent some of Sunday morning learning Kali. He says learning the culture behind the techniques was unique, and he wants to see more classes in the future.

“I feel like that’d be great,” said St. Laurent. “That’d be great for just everybody from the community, just to come and learn it. Even just to try it just like I did, that’d be great.

“It was pretty cool. I didn’t really know all the techniques and stuff beforehand. I never really do karate and stuff. I have done a bit of boxing but it was very different and it was cool to learn about.”

Catacutan believes the Philippines should be known for its martial arts – not just it good food.

“We’re not all lumpia and pancit and Tinikling,” he said, listing popular Filipino dishes and a traditional folk dance. “We are warriors as well. The message that I want to spread through the martial arts is that the Filipino community has been here a long time and we have so much to offer, and this is another big piece of it. We have the gift of self-protection. The gift of resilience and adaptability.”

Catacutan says he wants to help bring and popularize Kali in Winnipeg, and help Filipinos embrace it and share it as a traditional family legacy.

Martial arts instructor Alvin Catacutan gives private lesson to Logan St. Laurent in Winnipeg Sept. 24, 2023. (Joanne Roberts, CityNews)