Crouching Tiger

[rojcewiczj]

crouch:
verb
gerund or present participle: crouching
adopt a position where the knees are bent and the upper body is brought forward and down, sometimes to avoid detection or to defend oneself.

Above is the first definition listened of the word "crouch" when google searching the word. Isn't it interesting that even the common definition of the word includes an observation on its effectiveness, that it can be used.
Lately I've been thinking that the lost of genuine skill in Chinese martial arts begins in the manipulation of the natural crouch into more aesthetically pleasing "stances".
If we would only observe a realistic postural standard in the form of the natural crouch, perhaps, as a whole, we could claim practicality in traditional methods. The crouch is
the beast mode, the shattering of our upright, stiffly two dimensional movement, and the introduction of total directional freedom. The crouch is the spring, the compression, the boxers dodge, the powerful clinch, the take-down defence, the stealth mode. Acting with total freedom while adhering to the the single limitation of the crouch, the limitation being that you cant stand strait up, can gradually transform ones mode of action completely.

[yeniseri]

From my narrow and limited understanding, 'crouching tiger, hidden dragon' is more about strategy than actual physical representation of posture. One already possesses the skill but the analogy is how and when to use to achieve an opportune outcome. One remains "hidden' until the time is right as in the opus "Art of War" and in conjunction with it. My limited opinion version based on understanding

[Bao]

Not a strategy. Crouching tiger hidden dragon (actually the opposite around) is a picture for, or a poetic way to describe something dangerous that you can't see. It's like a tiger lurking at his prey, suddenly going for an attack, or like a dragon that suddenly appears. In the movie, it's a picture of the girl, the roll played by zhang ziyi