What do you think about this Taiji?

[johnwang]

I have always believed the original Taiji should look like this.

Your thought?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=N ... 8261000030

[Appledog]

It looks good but no one knows what it really means that someone combined some arts together. Based on how tai chi is constructed vs. xinyi or shuai jiao it would be prohibitively difficult to combine them. The form looks good anyways.

BTW, CTS tai chi does not include xinyi, or at least i've never heard of that before.

[origami_itto]

He moves very well

[Bao]

IMHO, what Tai Chi should look like depends on the purpose of the practice. Here the purpose is demonstration but I don't believe that the purpose of Tai Chi should be demonstration.

However, I like the dynamic/changing speed and spirit. Maybe he overstretches some movements, but he moves very good.

[D_Glenn]

John, I think there might be a bias happening here
Are you first or second generation Chang Dongsheng?

I never realized that he also had learned Xingyi.

There’s at least one Beng Quan in there that I see.

One thing that I can really see Taiji adding to Baoding Kuai Jiao is the subtle attack that a good ‘An’ method can do, which can subtly twist and cram an opponent’s sacrum down into the sides of their pelvic bones, which fires off a thousand nerves, similar to sciatica but in the whole lower half of the body. I just crumpled to the ground to get away from the pain. That would be handy. Especially since you already have the proper contact points to do it in a Shuai Jiao match.

.

[johnwang]

John, I think there might be a bias happening here
Are you first or second generation Chang Dongsheng?

I never realized that he also had learned Xingyi.

郭云深 -> 刘二彪子(刘纬祥1864 -1936) -> GM Chang (1908–1986) -> John Wang

Not sure the person Fu Nan Shun in that video is 傅松南 Fu Shu Nan or not.

[johnwang]

What I like about this Taiji video is he had proved that he was not just a copy machine that repeated what he had learned from his teacher. He had added into his own personal flavor.

Didn't realize that "brush knee twist step" can be used to lift up the bottom on your long rope.

[twocircles13]

I think slow speed training of the form has its place, and it has some merit in neurological research, but so does speeding up and varying the cadence of movements. To me, these are all essential methods in form training.

It’s not clear where training Tai Chi very slowly came from. In the Beijing Tai Chi community, by 1930, the notion dominated that the slower a practitioner could do a form, the higher their skill level. When Liu Musan, a Wu Style teacher, invited Chen Fake to demonstrate when first arrived in Beijing, his class expected him to take close to an hour to demonstrate the form. Instead, Chen demonstrated the shorter Pao Chui form and completed it in under 4 minutes. The class was scandalized, but the teacher invited Chen Fake back for a push hands demonstration, and the rest is history.

So, when John Wang says, "I have always believed the original Taiji should look like this.” My initial response is, “Of course.” That is assuming he means how the form was performed and not the routine, which was modified for demonstration.

[twocircles13]

My second response was, "He’s quite a showman."

This is an under-appreciated aspect of Chinese martial arts, but a historical part of martial culture. Not everything has always been for effectiveness, maiming, or killing people, especially in demonstrations. Sometimes, things are done just to woo the crowds and spark interest, even cheap “magic” tricks.

The idea of demonstrating the meat, the real competitive advantages of a martial art, is a very modern concept. This was inconceivable to traditional martial artists even just a few years ago. Modern people cry “Fake! Fraud! Charlatan!” Traditional martial artists just shrug, “You’ll never know. Why should I demonstrate the highest skills of my art in public, on film or video, or before a bunch of strangers? That’s insane!”

[johnwang]

"Why should I demonstrate the highest skills of my art in public, on film or video, or before a bunch of strangers? That’s insane!”

Because one day when you pass away, your online video will be the only thing that people will remember you.

200 years from today, people will still remember this Taiji master and believe that he understands the Taiji application.

[D_Glenn]

In Chen Taijiquan, there’s Walking Speed (the slow pace that you normally see, but it’s too slow to have Hand to Foot Harmony); then Jogging Speed (where there is Hand to Foot Harmony); then running or Sprinting Speed. Where you do it for fighting training.

Zhan (standing still) Zhuang practice is done for cultivation and strengthening.
Slow/ Walking Speed is also for Cultivation and strengthening. Slow Speed forms are called Xing (Moving) Zhuang, which is a slightly different type of Cultivation exercise that works better because the movements of the extremities are pumping more blood and qi around the body, but you are still keeping your brainwaves in a meditative state (assuming you can do the form without having to think about what you’re doing. In Baguazhang our Xing Zhuang practice is Circle Walking, which can be learned in a week’s time and start one’s cultivation sooner.)

In comparison to Standing Practice, Xing Zhuang makes it easier to get a change in your physical and mental state that we’re seeking in the IMA. These states are described in Zhang Boduan’s Daoism. This cultivation of mind and body will help heal your brain from any concussive blows or from being thrown during sparring and grappling. And it can promote the higher functioning of the brain which can be trained to work towards enlightenment. If you do a lot of fighting, then it might only just be healing back to normal on a daily basis and not so much working towards enlightenment.

You can achieve these changes in Zhan Zhuang and even Sitting meditations, but it’s really difficult because you’re constantly fighting against blood and qi stagnating, and have to be really good at using your ‘Yi’ (Intent) to keep it moving.

.

[twocircles13]

"Why should I demonstrate the highest skills of my art in public, on film or video, or before a bunch of strangers? That’s insane!”

Because one day when you pass away, your online video will be the only thing that people will remember you.

200 years from today, people will still remember this Taiji master and believe that he understands the Taiji application.

I totally agree, but we are modern people.

Traditional practitioner/teachers were to cull through the many to find the few worthy students who could carry on the art or let it die with them.

Different times, different cultures, different values, different thinking.

[Giles]

I have always believed the original Taiji should look like this.

Your thought?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=N ... 8261000030

I liked this and felt some admiration, although I didn't love it. Or to say it a little differently, it didn't 'move' me, but he's really good at what he does. Very good precision of movement, I also like the variations in speed, which also include different speeds or 'phrasing' for the same move that occurs more than once in his form. Not sure how deep or consistent the body connections are: the element of demonstration and showmanship in this performance might be masking some connections which are actually there, or maybe not. It would be really interesting to cross hands with him.

Our various ideas of how 'original Taiji' looked are rather like an ink blot test - the resulting image (in the mind) might say more about our individual natures and preferences than about the thing itself.

[Appledog]

I have always believed the original Taiji should look like this.

Your thought?

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?extid=N ... 8261000030

I liked this and felt some admiration, although I didn't love it. Or to say it a little differently, it didn't 'move' me, but he's really good at what he does. Very good precision of movement, I also like the variations in speed, which also include different speeds or 'phrasing' for the same move that occurs more than once in his form. Not sure how deep or consistent the body connections are: the element of demonstration and showmanship in this performance might be masking some connections which are actually there, or maybe not. It would be really interesting to cross hands with him.

Our various ideas of how 'original Taiji' looked are rather like an ink blot test - the resulting image (in the mind) might say more about our individual natures and preferences than about the thing itself.

When you become enlightened you remember all your past lives and you will of course, naturally, understand what the 'original Taiji' looked like.

[Giles]

Ah, when the 'original Taiji' first saw the light of day I may well have been a peasant in the depths of the English countryside who never travelled further than 10 miles from his home. So even enlightenment and subsequent Total Recall won't help me here, I fear.

But I don't want to derail, so back to the actual theme.