Actually, I can go on for quite a while about the footwork...maybe until you get sick of hearing about it. So why don't I limit it to the basics:
You guys all know that one way to classify gongfu styles is by the linear vs. the circular. It's a contrast between a line and a circle. Linear styles tend to move directly toward or directly back away from one's opponent. Of course there are small variations of this theme, slight movements angling off to the side. But this is only to further the drive forward. The footwork involved here is generally simple -- e.g., side-stepping in and back, or whatever.
With circular styles, the footwork can be more elaborate, opening angles of many variations. You can see this with, for instance, Baqua. As the Baqua practitioner travels around his or her circle, watch the footwork used to vary the travel.
With White Crane, it is the footwork that makes everything work. But it is the horse that makes the footwork work. So without the horse, the footwork will break down. And the horse is something that is very difficult to just look at and do. You need a teacher to tell you, for instance, that the root of the horse travels down through the heel, not the toe. So that when you see someone lift their heel, it means their horse is broken.
The problem with this is two fold. First, it means the footwork pattern avilalbe to the horse is now no longer available in the same way. Second, it means the arm and hand techniques available to the rooted horse are no longer available. So, for instance, there are "Gorilla" techniques (probably not the best name for them...but oh well) that require a stable horse, and there are "Crane" techniques that require a fluid horse. Each have different approaches to the hand/arm positions, and each have their own way of expressing the footwork patterns through their respective horses.
So again, it is the footwork that makes the long-arm work. Without it, the style becomes just what linear stylists usually see in White Crane -- a slow, out-of-wack, horribly open and vulnerable set of movements that don't make sense. But in order to make use of the footwork patterns, you MUST have a solid horse. Without that, you can't move properly... and ALL of your other techniques will be in weak.
And yet, there aren't that many footwork patterns in White Crane (as we learned it), and more than there are hand/arm/kicking techniques. You may have heard that gongfu styles can also be divided into "closed" and "open" systems, as well as "narrow" and "wide" systems.
A "narrow" system is one that specifies a particular response for a particular attack. So for every possible attack, there is a specific response. And because there are a great many possible attacks, there are also a great may specifc techniques to counter them. With "narrow" systems, you have A LOT of techniques -- like the proverbial 108 hand techniques, for instance. A "wide" system has much fewer techniques, but looks to the changes possible for each of them. So for instance, you might only have 5 or 6 basic punches... but many "changes" associated with those punches. See also Baqua, with it's emphasis on changes.
The way to learn how to use a wide system (like White Crane) is then to gain experience with using the limited number of techniques you have available, in a wide assortment of attacks. In other words, you have to use the techniques in sparring... a lot of sparing... so you can learn how a single punch can be used against multiple attack patterns.
it's the same way with the footwork.
In my book (love to keep bringing this up), I talk about how I was wedged into a corner during a particularly difficult sparing match, and just before I was about to bite the dust, some part of me found my horse, and as soon as I did, I just kind of unconsciously also found the correct footwork pattern that completely removed me from the corner, like magic. The two went together -- footwork pattern & horse. Had I never dropped down into that horse, the footwork would never have become available.
So again, the footwork is tied to the horse, and so are all of the long-arm techniques. without the footwork and the horse, the long-arm techniques won't make sense, and won't work properly. But unlike some styles that practice one way, and spar or fight another way,
the White Crane techniques are meant to be used as practiced... precisely as practiced.
