My point is, I don't think any of us can confidently judge another style/system/technique just by watching it.
Actually Yes you can. and in the case with Sd and the forms taught out there you can definately and confidently judge the style as nothing more than a hybridized style of karate and kung fu with more emphasis on the karate than the kung fu.
the forms have principles and techniques,,there are reasons behind them,,there is a look and a feel to it. and those who have been in the TCMA realm for a long know when a "duck" is trying to be an "eagle" and stilll looking like a duck. plus there is a "content" to the forms as well and that resides in the individual as to wether or not he/she has "content". the old saying goes in this community "all form and no content" and why? because if all you teach is a form and only show little of its value with respect to applications,,what points(meridians) on the body it affects,,how it is really used in a combat situation,,then the form only becomes a form and nothing more
take the Hsing yi that Sd offers. it is inherintly different in its movements when you compare it to more traditional systems of xingyi. and since most CMA practitioners agree that tracing the history and lineage of that certain family style is important,,you wonder where this hsing yi from Sd came from? is it Hebei style? or a modified version of hebei? or is the modified hsing i at Sd Shanxi style? or is it I chuan style?
i know sd Hsing i,,all too well do i know it. and in my opinion it has some decent movements,,,,but never was i taught the 5 element principles or any if very little applications or techniques. oh sure it was explained a little bit about what bung chuan was for and pau chuan and so on and so forth,,but no real instruction on the system itself.
it was a 3 month course for those of us who took it when i did. it is also 2nd degree black belt material in SD,,so you would think that if it is required material that there would be alot of emphasis on the principles of 5 elements and such.
but not where i was learning it there wasnt. i had to get my meridianology and 5 element principles from outside the school just to get an idea of what the hell i was learning with hsing i.
Peace,,TWS
It makes me mad when people say I turned and ran like a scared rabbit. Maybe it was like an angry rabbit, who was going to fight in another fight, away from the first fight.