There are many fields of creativity in the realm of physical movement, but how serious are people in even attempting to reach the very pinnacle of their art?
One of if not the most inhibiting factors in what should be the quest for ever increasing creativity and overall accomplishment in sports and arts of physical movement, is the restriction and imposition of cultural influence. There is a very thin line between this and racism.
The late Taijiquan genius Jou Tsung Hwa created some marvelous exercises that require and demonstrate the principles of Taijiquan. But someone who is a serious dancer, or gymnast could benefit from them as well. I have demonstrated according to my ability and resources, what I call “The Torso Method Exercises Of Jou Tsung Hwa” in Lift Hands magazine, Sheerdance.com (2/18), and possibly soon in Sifumag.com. Although I have only mentioned dance and gymnastics above, this is only what I can see at the moment. And keeping in mind that the “Torso Method Exercises” are practiced without any stepping with the feet, that is saying a lot.
Even though Master Jou’s exercises were inspired from the Taiji Classics, the exercises themselves are not particularly Chinese.
One way of describing “The Dao Of Movement” in words in a martial arts sense, is to picture a person surrounded by multiple attackers launching their attacks, while evading them all the while standing in the center. I’m exaggerating of course, but not much. This is only from a martial arts sense.
Figure skating, dance (and improvised movement), and martial arts are only a few of the fields in which I can see benefiting from “The Dao Of Movement”, the very concept inspired in me through my former Taijiquan instructor Larry Banks and our free sparring sessions.
By the time Larry began studying Taijiquan from Jou Tsung Hwa, he was already a serious martial artist. I was studying Ving Tsun Kung fu at the time, but just Larry’s movement alone showed me that I was missing out on something big.
After the passing of Master Jou, one of his TaijiFarm students Bob Arietta, decided to teach what he had learned from his dedicated study at the Farm. During one of these lessons or informal gatherings, I showed Bob some of “The Dao Of Movement”. I must say that he was one of the few people that could appreciate on the spot, what is taking me such a long time to explain.
Previously I wanted to demonstrate a small part of a form that I had written about in QI magazine (2016-winter) about the small frame Chen family’s Taijiquan. I wanted to demonstrate it in a tournament setting. I felt that since I had written many articles on Taijiquan for decades, perhaps I could demonstrate what no one was demonstrating the form from Zhi Rulei’s book. That is possibly when culture, greed, and who knows what else came in. Although my article in QI was in 2016, it probably is from the future. I sent a small clip to this site, but my form has improved quite a bit since then. It is unique in that it always seems to improve with every practice session. I won’t say this about my other 4 forms.
That idea of demonstrating is out of the question for a tournament setting when it comes to “The Dao Of Movement” although it would be an interesting setting.
In some science-fiction movies there is sometimes a representative from a distant planet speaking to a group of people of the earth who are from different nationalities. The representative speaks to the group simultaneously, but each person hears it only in his or her native tongue.
The movement is the representative and sports, dance etc… are the native tongues.
Formlessness And The Dao Of Movement
Taijiquan: The Dao of Movement and Martial Arts
, and martial arts are only a few of the fields in which I can see benefiting from "The Dao Of Movement".){kind=link}