johnwang wrote:Can you create a new form that meet the following requirements?
1. Move 1 set up move 2, move 2 set up move 3, ...
2. All basic punches are included.
3. All basic kicks are included.
4. All basic blocks are included.
5. No duplicated technique.
6. Between 16 to 20 moves.
The 1st requirement could be the most challenged. The 5th requirement can also be challenged. Would you like to try to create one and share your creation here?
Well, you're not looking for a taijiquan form with those requirements.
1. The form in my taijiquan instructional tradition (and many other taijiquan forms) is set up to anticipate failure. That is, Move 1 fails, go to Move 2. It fails go to Move 3 and so on. Why would you need multiple successful moves in the form? Continuous attacks is one of the things push hands trains. And, to the best of my knowledge, my bajiquan form is also not set up like that because it expects one well setup strike to injure the opponent severely enough that the conflict will be over. Pao Chui in taijiquan is set up the same way for the most part, its follow-up movements are more focused on multiple attackers.
2. Again, you are not looking for a primary taijiquan form, which is about control not strikes, until you get to the secondary form, Pao Chui, in my case, then, taiji-specific striking methods are taught. Bajiquan on the other hand, includes lots of strikes.
3. The first Taijiquan form does have an array of kicks, but more as basic training for kicks. Most are too high to be useful.
4. Taijiquan has its own “blocking” method, which is more like parrying used in some fencing styles, so it doesn’t use the standard blocking techniques used in many other martial arts.
5.There really aren’t duplicate movements in the taijiquan form. In the books, to save space and printing costs, they would say same as movement #nn. But they are not really. Sometimes, direct instruction, there are variations in stepping or an alternate application is taught. If it is otherwise identical, the setup entry or exit or both are usually different.
6. 16-20 Movements seems like an arbitrary number. For chunking (a short-term memory aid), up to 7, 9 max is standard. So, if you are going to break up the form anyway, a longer form to include most of those other requirements can be quite doable. The primary taijiquan form was originally divided up Into 13 sections, so a 64 to 78 movement form would have, on average, 4 to 6 movements. Even a 108 movement form would average less than 9 movements per section.
Thanks for allowing me to share my perspective on this topic.