Rate/critique these Baji performances.

[omarthefish]

http://video.sina.com.cn/v/b/56115456-2099658804.html

or alternately:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5G8d8KfftQ

Specifically, I am looking for comparisons between the 2nd and 3rd performances in the clip. It's the same form done by 2 different students of the same teacher.

0:00 - 0:55 Introduction in Chinese only
0:55 - 1:30 Baji Xiaojia
1:30 - 2:30 Baji Dajia
2:30 - 3:30 Baji Dajia
3:30 - 3:55 Baji Sabre

Again, I mainly want comparative feedback on the 2nd and 3rd performances.

[Violent Designs]

From what I see,

Your movements seem more forceful (explosive?).

The other guy's seemed smoother but less forceful. Seemed like he played the form faster too?

This is from my non-expert opinion.

Don't know what it's "suppose" to be like, but this is what I can tel you.

[omarthefish]

I'm trying to sort out my own subjective critique from the thing so I don't want to really put my own thoughts out there until I've seen what it apparently looks like from the outside.

The two of us have our own strengths and weaknesses and both have very different goals for training so, of course, very different results. In any case, I am too close to the thing to be objective. So thanks for your initial input.

...Seemed like he played the form faster too?

Might be the editing. As a general rule, I always finish the form about 5-10 seconds faster than he does. I actually made a significant effort to stretch it out for the show but not by slowing down. I just try to remember to pause longer on each of the "photo ops". Sometimes I even count to 3 in my head before moving to the next move. It's irrelevant martially but helps you score higher in comps and you tend to get better pictures in the media if you sort of indicate "take a picture....now" at certain points. Just by timing the thing though, I still run it a fair bit faster than he does.

[bawang]

your arms are wobbly

doing form aggresively looks good only if you look strong like your teacher

[omarthefish]

You're right. I know my form is too loose. I always work for power. I'd rather be strong and ugly than beautiful and delicate.

What about the other guy doing the same form as me?








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btw, teacher is 70 years old in that clip.

[YouKnowWho]

I'd rather be strong and ugly than beautiful and delicate.

I don't train forms any more. If I still do, I prefer to train my form like a mad man than a nice guy.

[bawang]

You're right. I know my form is too loose. I always work for power.

you are performing a form in front of public, why the hell wouldnt you want to look good

[omarthefish]

Although I often have to perform in public, that is not the reason I train. It's just something I have to do in order to promote the style and to support our organization. Since I don't like to train with performance in mind, my performance suffers. But since I do have to do it from time to time, yes, I would like to look better doing it.

I don't train forms any more. If I still do, I prefer to train my form like a mad man than a nice guy.

I do train them a lot but the madman part works for me too. It's only lately I am resigning myself to the fact that I have to make them look better for reasons I still haven't mentioned yet.

[Lucas]

i have to make them look better for reasons i still haven't mentioned yet.

chicks!!!!!!!!!!

[bawang]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duamn...eature=related

go to 4:20

this is REAL POWER. makes ur baji look like a dericate rittle frower.

[omarthefish]

lol.

Actually, I'd say he looks pretty strong but his movement does not strike me as very powerful. I'd say that he looks like a delicate little frower next to this clip from about 1:05 on towards the end of that set.

================================================== =
So no one but Violent has got anything to say about my Chinese compadre sharing the stage with me? I was really hoping for more of a comparison than just an straight up critique.

chicks!!!!!!!!!!

If only it were that simple. . .

Only top flight form performances can earn me true acceptance into the Xi'an MA community. If I fight well, the locals will tend to see me as a foreign challenger and will not necessarily give credit to my Baji training or to my Shifu. They will tend to want to say that "foreigners are just build stronger and make better fighters..." or they will refer to the boxing or other western fight training they imagine I have. (I don't) Only solid form performances, especially if I can learn to capture the Chinese aesthetic on these things, will make them feel like I am "one of them". It sends a message that I honour and respect their culture. Winning fights wins me "street cred" back home but locally (in Xi'an) it makes them see me as more of a threat.

It's a shame and I think it's not even a fully conscious reaction on their part but this is my intuition about why I need to do so many performances and forms comps even though my teacher is more of a fighter by nature. It's politics.

[bawang]

will make them feel like I am "one of them".

brandon tunks is "one of them". david ross is "one of them". you will never be "one of them" because ur perception of chinese people is right out of a fukin comic

you backed out of a fight with a WOMAN. and you wanna play big bad foreigner in china?

[omarthefish]

if u want to look good then stop wobbling ur dam arms

Yeah yeah, I got it! This is still improvement. 3 or 4 years ago I was getting feedback that my f'ing head was wobbling. Arms, I can fix that.

brandon tunks is "one of them". david ross is "one of them".

Who is Brandon Tunks?

Why is David Ross "one of them" and I am not? I'm nobody in the USA but in Xi'an I am pretty well known. This is not me being defensive. I honestly want to know. My teacher treats me a lot more strictly than he does to his Chinese students and it's mainly because there is a different standard for me than for them. For demonstrations like this one, I get extra credit but for competition I get penalized. They like me for a demo the same way they like an 8 year old kid doing really good looking Shaolin. I'm a gimmick. If I am actually competing against them though...

you will never be "one of them"

Why not and should I care? You said that David Ross crossed the barrier. What do you think he did that made it possible?

I'm not sure how important it is to me but my Shifu cares about this issue. I can see that he is often strict because he is coaching me on how to be accepted by Chinese society. I see why it matters while I am in Xi'an but am not clear if it matters in the long run.

[bawang]

I honestly want to know.

i dont know why after so many years in china you still arent accepted, thats your problem. but doing forms isnt gonna earn you respect among the orientals like some movie. it shows you are still living in a tiny expat bubble.

I'm a gimmick.

theres your answer



five years after that john springer debacle i gave u some doubt. even last year when you showed that lame sparring video i didnt say anything. this is gone way too fukin far.

[omarthefish]

it shows you are still living in a tiny expat bubble.

I kinda doubt it.

I do not have a single ex-pat friend with me here in China. I am my teacher's only foreign student in Xi'an and don't even have any English speaking friends. I think maybe the barrier is just higher inside of China than it is in N.Y. where the local Chinese are living among American's all the time.

The gimmick thing is there but that doens't mean it's impossible to overcome. I am just like a black dude in the USA in the 70's. I have to be twice as good to get the same level of recognition.