Originally Posted by
Chain Whip
China is a big place and an old culture with countless dialects, types of food and other cultural norms. It would be very naïve to believe that while there is no single correct way to cook rice in China, for some reason there is only one way to flavor the movements in supposedly traditional forms.
Most of the time I have seen forms presented as traditional CMA it looks just like wushu to me. The same emphasis on performance, the dramatic posing, the sacrifice of function in the name of form, a complete lack of understanding of the type of power they should be attempting to generate, a lack of power in general – especially snapping power and no understanding of what the timing of the techniques would have to be if they were being applied in combat.
One way of looking at it is: There is the modern, highly acrobatic, highly structured competitive wushu. Also, there is the “modern” traditional CMA which is what will be well accepted at a CMA tournament. It may as well be called wushu without the acrobatics. And there is old traditional CMA, that is not performance oriented. It places the highest premium on body mechanics to deliver force – not present a flavor.
We are accused of being karate like in our movements. Maybe we should take that as a compliment. At least karate guys can hit. Our desire to make techniques powerful and to snap what should snap is part of what makes it traditional. We look at traditional as meaning - “Would I practice like this if tomorrow I was stepping on a battlefield?” Look at most of the “Northern Shaolin” forms you see performed today. Do you really think people preparing for war practiced like that? I can see the “drill sergeant” screaming at the soldier “BOY YOU NEED TO GET SOME MORE FLAVOR IN YOUR TECHNIQUES. YOU NEED TO PREEN AND POSE A LOT MORE. AND FOR BUDDHAS SAKE STOP TRYING TO HIT WITH SPEED AND POWER - YOU LOOK TOO KARATE LIKE!”
The laws of physics don’t change because someone thinks a little flavor would help influence the judges. Flavor doesn’t hit hard – proper body mechanics do.