GrahamB wrote:Richard,
Indeed, they are movements, not postures... so let's look at movements...
...
This presents some anecdotal evidence for both goose and crane having been there originally in Yang, but because YCF only has a crane version left it looks like a different lineage to goose, but this may be a false impression. It could be that Yang Cheng Fu himself took out the 'goose' part. That's another theory.
Anyway, more grist for the mill.
That’s interesting.
Here’s some more grist from a Chen taijiquan perspective.
Lei Muni. one of Chen Fake’s later students. White Crane Spreads its Wings starts at 0:38-0:42 and the related Crane-like sequences go until about 1:25 or 1:35 depending where you want to stop.
This is Chen Boxing, student of Chen Liqing, who was instrumental in saving small-frame Chen Taijiquan. White Goose Spreads its Wings start at about 0:31-0:37 and related movements to about 0:59.
To add some spice, this is Du Yuze who was a student of Chen Yanxi, Chen Fake’s father. However, Chen Yanxi was quite old, and after a few years when Du’s family left the area, Yanxi recommended his nephew, "Chen Ming-biao, to be his bodyguard and the family's personal boxing teacher. Chen Ming-biao was an expert in archery, the spear and other aspects of the martial arts, including the Lao Jia (Old Form) Chen Family Taiji and Paochui (Cannon Fist)." He also taught Du the Sudden Thunder style, which though related to small-frame was not strictly a Chen family form. (not shown) White Crane Spreads its Wings and related moves is about 0:52-1:00 and related moves to 1:23.
I saw and article where the Chen Village Large Frame group is trying to revert from White Crane to White Goose for the movement name. It said, “There are no cranes in the Chen Village, but there are lots of geese.” This is anecdotal that the name and possibly the movement was changed in the branch of the family that spent much of their time outside of the village.