I believe if people want to learn to use their martial arts martially they need forms but not in the traditional sense. Movements in forms should mimic the actual technique or activity that needs to be done. Movements should be able to applied the same way the move is applied in the air. Moves that are linked together build rhythm in movement but do little to learn SKILLS.
Standard forms should not be taught formally as part of the curriculum. When students are doing sparring activities they will inevitably not be able to: 1. Pull of a throw/strike/joint lock technique. The move then gets isolated in the air by the student and drilled until the student's body mechanics have improved and he can pull the move off on command. Then he will be reintroduced to technique drilling/sparring. The "form" I mentioned should be done at home when the student has no partners for two-person activities.
If a student finds he cannot strike with sufficient power with a particular strike on the bag in the school the same rules apply. When he goes home he drills THAT strike slowly in the air(assuming he does not have a heavy bag at home) to develop the proper body mechanics. Then he returns to the bag the next time he is at the gym or school.
Kung fu has a lot of unique looking strikes that can and should be isolated in form drilling to be utilized for sparring. Isolate that strike with its specific energy(outward, curved, circular, down, up, etc) and develop it separate from the whole form if you are inclined to doing forms.
Forms are useful to develop specific movements/techniques. When people argue that it helps the body move like a particular style they can never explain why it all falls apart during sparring. During sparring this student starts "kickboxing' and gets told he is not doing wombat foo, wing chun, etc. Then he goes back to drilling that form to so that he can have the same end product again next week.
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These are just for entertainment value so do not let it take away from the original post. Let us try to have a productive conversation for once.
I can see the typical responses already so I am going to type so I will just type it for you.
Tentigers: "I am so awesome and hung huge. But beyond that we are talking about kung foo. The traditional way was never to teach forms first. There was drilling, sparring, power training, AND THEN forms. It is only in the last generation that teachers have been doing this kind of teaching. I am so gigantic that girls love me long time. Oh crap I am ranting again."
Bawang: "Mang, sifus are just trying to steal your monies. STop doing the forms and stop the sissy wing chung."
David Jameson: "I agree with you 100% on everything you ever say, Mysteriouspower. You have hit the nail right on the head. Other than that I just copy and paste whatever tentigers says because I like to sound like a know it all too."
Earthdragon: "Your knowledge is so awesome that I want to have your baby."
Knifefighter: (In response to responses to my original post) "Another clueless kung fu guy trying to say he can fight while practicing dance moves.
If I missed anyone let me know.