New T'ai Chi Form

[Zhong]

If a Style were to formulate a new Form, (weapon or no weapon), how best to go about it?
Would a Master create it on her/his own or in conjuncyion with their top teachers?
How long would it take to formulate?

[B-Rad]

If a Style were to formulate a new Form, (weapon or no weapon), how best to go about it?
style's don't create forms, people do ;)

Would a Master create it on her/his own or in conjuncyion with their top teachers?
Yes

How long would it take to formulate?
Depends on how long it takes you to finish :p

Kind of odd questions...

[Scott R. Brown]

Creating a new form is not that big of a deal. I have created many new forms. I can make one up spontaneously as I go along and I have done so many times. It was actually a requirement for my blackbelt test some 30 years ago. It only takes about as long as it takes to do the form to create one if one is experienced enough. That is the key, experience!

There are only so many ways the body moves; there are only so many strikes, kicks, blocks, evasions, parries, body movements, etc.

Decide what kind of attacks you want to practice responding to and how you want to respond to them and then simply move accordingly.

When using a weapon, the type of weapon will determine the movements. You would not club someone with a knife, and you would not slash someone with a hammer.

[Zhong]

Creating a new form is not that big of a deal. I have created many new forms. I can make one up spontaneously as I go along and I have done so many times. It was actually a requirement for my blackbelt test some 30 years ago. It only takes about as long as it takes to do the form to create one if one is experienced enough. That is the key, experience!

There are only so many ways the body moves; there are only so many strikes, kicks, blocks, evasions, parries, body movements, etc.

Decide what kind of attacks you want to practice responding to and how you want to respond to them and then simply move accordingly.

When using a weapon, the type of weapon will determine the movements. You would not club someone with a knife, and you would not slash someone with a hammer.

How many 'moves' as such was it? Did you do it all on your own or tested it out with other people?
I ask because I'm wondering about how complete Forms are in a given system.


And by "system creating a Form", I meant the people involved in it.

[mawali]

Creating a Taijiquan form is not really difficult as long as it incorporates the essential principles of the corresponding style! One of my teachers from Chengdu said that while studying with a traditional teacher, he had to take physical education curriculum and part of the course was looking at the structure of a style (Yang, Chen, etc) and basically re-arrange the choreography.
He was to gives reasons for the changes and the associated benefit!
Didn't Chen shi taijiquan incorporate its village style with Shaolin, baji, local influences and others to create what we know today as Chen style

It was not necessarily creating a New Style but about choreography since the movements/postures were the same.

[Scott R. Brown]

How many 'moves' as such was it? Did you do it all on your own or tested it out with other people?
I ask because I'm wondering about how complete Forms are in a given system.


And by "system creating a Form", I meant the people involved in it.

Hi Zhong,

Well, the number of moves are as much or as few as I choose at the time. I prefer creating spontaneously rather than memorizing my created forms, although I have had friends that have created open-hand and weapons forms for competition, as Chris has mentioned, and they have won trophies for their efforts. So the length depends upon what your original purpose is.

As far as testing it on people is concerned, a form is a rather impractical method for improving your fighting. It is the smaller sets of the form that are practical or not and whether they work in real life is context dependent at the time of the performance of the moves. If you start out with impractical movements, a la Tony Jaa, such as a backwards flip with a kick to the head of your opponent, well..... you get what you ask for when you try to execute such a stupid and ridiculous action in a real fight! But just about any parry and strike will work depending upon the context as well as strike kick combination, joint lock or throw. The effectiveness of the action depends upon the context of the situation at the time, as well as your skill level and your opponents skill level.

Forms serve a number of purposes: enjoyment, aerobic training, development of grace, learning to tie together moves in a smooth and harmonious manner, the internalization of movements...etc.

I doubt there is such thing as a complete form because there are too many moves and combinations of moves possible to perform. In the end it is the separate sets that are most important, not the greater form in which they are included. Just think of a form as a combination of much smaller sets of techniques compiled in an arbitrary manner. Practice the separate techniques (sets) and then combine as you wish to create your own form. It is really that easy.