Originally Posted by
Kellen Bassette
As to the circus stuff...this is an excerpt from "Training Methods of 72 Arts of Shaolin" -1934. It doesn't expressly mention "circuses" but I think it could be implied, by "roaming acrobats." I suppose it's reasonable to believe that martial artists performed their kung fu/acrobatics in circuses or troupes; I'm sure not all were teachers or military men.
Here's the excerpt.
The exercise, "Piercing the Curtain" is the "soft" GONG FU, it trains the internal energy and belongs to the section "Skill of Light Body" (QING SHEN GONG). The purport of it lies in the ability to make horizontal leaps like a swallow's flight. We often see performances of roaming acrobats who show leaps through rings with daggers or burning torches on the ring perimeter. That is just a demonstration of that kind of GONG FU. The audience see: one leap and an acrobat already passed through the ring with daggers or burning torches on the edges. It seems to be simple and easy. Nobody thinks about the fact to achieve it, one has to pass through hard and difficult training, much more difficult than in many other kinds of GONG FU.
I see the argument on here several times about SD not having the look/flavor of CMA. Someone mentioned that it's because hadn't adopted a modern "Wushu" feel to it, so it doesn't have the "prettiness" of some Kung Fu styles.
I don't want to come off as style bashing, or disrespecting anyone's art, that's not my way or intention; and I don't know much about SD other than what I read here and have seen from several Youtube videos, but the fact that it doesn't look like CMA, in my opinion, has nothing to do with modern Wushu or lack of flowery movements, or anything of that nature.
Every video I have seen of SD, be it by a skilled or sloppy performer, has the look/flavor of some sort of Kempo/Karate practitioner attempting a Chinese form. That in itself isn't a bad thing, there's nothing wrong with Kempo or Karate, but it never has the look of CMAs, because CMAs simply move differently than other systems. Some of the videos I have seen are very sloppy, some have good stances and technique; but none have the feel of CMAs.
I know exactly what it looks like when a Karate based martial artist attempts Chinese style forms. I started my MA training in Karate; and as a teenager, I attempted to create my own Kung Fu forms, based on my Karate experience and what I had seen from Kung Fu. I could do Chinese style moves all day and never have the feel/look of CMA.
I never figured out why until I began studying CMAs. It took a while for me to learn, at first, because I thought I could build off my Karate base. It was impossible. I had to completely empty my cup and separate the arts to learn Kung Fu properly. It wasn't a matter of better or worse, it's different fundamentals, different mechanics, mostly a completely different method of linking techniques between Chinese, Okinawan, Japanese, Indo-Chinese, or "what have you" styles.
Kempo/Karate does not link movements in the manner of CMAs. If your base is Karate you cannot learn to link in a Chinese style until you start from scratch with a CMAs foundation. It has nothing to do with modern Wushu or pretty techniques.
Northern styles look/move different than Southern styles, yes. Southern styles are more closely related to Karate than Northern styles; also true. But Southern systems still have a Chinese look/feel brought on not only by their techs, but the way they link the movements/energies.
Wing Chun doesn't look like Hung Gar, Doesn't look like SPM, doesn't look like CLF, doesn't look like Shaolin, doesn't look like Eagle Claw, doesn't look like NPM, ect....All these arts have their own flavor, but are all obviously Chinese arts, because they utilize linkage of moves/energies in a Chinese fashion, not in an Okinawan, Japanese or Indonesian fashion.
So in that regard, SKT is probably correct in calling himself a "Karate" club of sorts, though certainly not traditional Okinawan...
Not meaning to pass judgement or disrespect at all...just my 2 cents for what it's worth, but whenever I see a Chinese form attempted by someone who does not have a CMAs base, I immediately recognizance and understand why, because I tried it myself, as a teenager, before I began my TCMAs studies.
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