Dave B. ([info]azael93) wrote,
@ 2008-11-18 21:01:00
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Tai Chi
When I was at Ad Astra Oasis, Fr. Vovin taught me a five minute tai chi form. I wish I had video of my doing it because the comparison of my lumbering awkwardness to the liquid beauty of this practitioner would make it all the more impressive:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFZUIgaxlsI

The power in that woman's legs is unbelievable.

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[info]christeos_pir
2008-11-19 04:47 am UTC (link)
I've never really done tai chi, though I've seen it for years (can't live in Asia without being around it). It's on my list of things to learn before I die.

But there was something about her performance that bugged me but couldn't quite put my finger on, until I saw this performance: there's a solidity within the flow in this one that I didn't see in the first -- it was as if she (the younger woman) was too ephemeral for my taste (admittedly influenced by my study of karate, with its emphasis on strength).

Edited at 2008-11-19 04:48 am UTC

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[info]litch
2008-11-19 08:27 am UTC (link)
she was exaggeratedly low, this caused her to take exceptionally wide stances/steps and to have her knee bent more sharply than is generally considered ideal

she was showing off her strength and limberness, my teacher used to do that too. It's a great practice technique, but I like your example better too.

They are also slightly different forms, the 48 form yang is a lot more graceful than the 24 form yang short form. The short form is modern invention to move through the various basic poses and has a lot of the communist committee brutality about it. I still prefer the full 108 form yang long, it tends to be more satisfying to my own aesthetic.

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[info]christeos_pir
2008-11-19 03:15 pm UTC (link)
When the older woman planted her foot, it looked like it was rooted all the way to the earth's core (which I presume is the idea). It was like the difference between Wood and Air, maybe, elementally speaking? I dunno, like I said it's not my area of expertise.

It did make me see the martial arts aspects in it -- now I want to try doing kata at that speed.

Are there big differences between the Yang and Chen forms?

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[info]litch
2008-11-19 05:46 pm UTC (link)
The traditional description is that Chen is more "explosive", chen changes paces whereas yang tends to have a constant pace, chen has more stomping and on the whole looks more martial.

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[info]musickal
2008-11-19 12:40 pm UTC (link)
that video looked more like what we do in form with jingyu. I guess the difference was a lower stance but I was distracted by it in the other video. The fluidity in these videos reminds me I have a lot of f'in work to do. Although after 3 weeks, I have learned several stances at least.v Every day is better than before.

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