My Shifu's Yang Taiji

[MaartenSFS]

He told me that he liked the number. =P

[TaiChiTJ]

He performs it with a real authority. Different from the usual sport wushu reading of the form.

[wayne hansen]

nice form petty he looses his balance on one of the kicks
i think you should reshoot so it is perfect
i would love to see his take on the 108

[Pennykid]

Just curious if Maarten's video is no longer playing for anybody else out there? For me, it plays for about 2 seconds then goes black. It was fully functional early yesterday.

[Michael]

Working fine for me.

[MaartenSFS]

He performs it with a real authority. Different from the usual sport wushu reading of the form.

He kicks my arse with authority too. =P But, I feel that, after two months of his Jibengong training, the truncated 20 posture form that he is teaching me is starting to come together and there are obvious improvements in my Neigong (he tests it by letting us strike pads or push him - if we can't, we fail). Exciting stuff!

[MaartenSFS]

nice form petty he looses his balance on one of the kicks
i think you should reshoot so it is perfect
i would love to see his take on the 108

I would, but I doubt that he cares. Everyone loses their balance at some point. His kicks are crazy. He can kick from three different angles [without putting his foot down] faster than one of my kicks (and I'd like to think my kicks aren't all that bad!)

I'll re-shoot it with my camera at some point and without the "dancers" in the background, along with the Chen form.

He told me that he doesn't do any other Taiji forms. He feels that the essence is all there and that 83 or 108 postures is too damn much. A lot of it is repeating anyways. The real Gongfu comes from the Gongli exercises, not the form, he says.

[wayne hansen]

Would be interesting to see anything he does.
I agree everyone looses their balance at some time I just think it would be better for film

[Baguaplayer]

I truly like the fact that he doesn't give a shit if it's perfect or not. He's not doing it for anyone but himself and he already knows what he's got. Like someone said, everyone jiggles every once in a while. It just shows that one is going deeper and deeper in the form, and not complacent just to do the form very well. I think his attitude is if you don't like it, don't watch it, don't believe it, come test it.

[MaartenSFS]

Would be interesting to see anything he does.
I agree everyone looses their balance at some time I just think it would be better for film

You're right. If it were me I'd do it over and over again until it was perfect. He's just not worried about it because to him it's not a performance. The real meat of the art is in the Gongli training and actual fighting.

[MaartenSFS]

I truly like the fact that he doesn't give a shit if it's perfect or not. He's not doing it for anyone but himself and he already knows what he's got. Like someone said, everyone jiggles every once in a while. It just shows that one is going deeper and deeper in the form, and not complacent just to do the form very well. I think his attitude is if you don't like it, don't watch it, don't believe it, come test it.

That's exactly his attitude. I will add too that he has great control and hardly anyone ever gets hurt.

[wayne hansen]

It is a short form I am sure one more time would surfice

[MaartenSFS]

I'll use the excuse that I'm using a better camera. Also, I asked him why he used the standard 24 form as the basis and he said that that form was created by fighters and that it contains the essence of the art. It is the subsequent practitioners that have watered it down to a dance. He said that, other than the applications that he has chosen, his version was influenced by the other styles of Taiji and also Bagua and Xinyiliuhe, hence the slight differences.

[windwalker]

his version was influenced by the other styles of Taiji and also Bagua and Xinyiliuhe, hence the slight differences.

interesting, why does he still call it yang taiji?

[MaartenSFS]

Because it was first and the sequence is mostly the same. He said that he kept Chen separate because, like XYQ, it more closely straddles the line between internal and external.