Bunkai-informed kata/hyung performance?

[exile]

A number of other threads have covered the issue of how people practice their MA forms, whether they are, in their practice, influenced by the practical applications the forms encode and so on. My question here is a little different—it's this: to what extent does your understanding and interpretation of the combat significance encrypted in the forms you know lead you to perform them, in a formal situation, in a manner that's strongly influenced or guided by what you know (or believe) about their combat content? By formal situation I'm thinking of a belt test, say, or a forms competition at a tournament. To what degree do you perform the pattern not according to the 'standard' pace and rhythm of the form, but rather in terms of the kind of combat actions you believe the form is instructing you to carry out in some particular situation, as per the bunkai you've worked out for that form?

 

[dancingalone]

In some lineages of Okinawan Goju-ryu, there are two man sets that explain the bunkai. One man is the attacker, one is the defender, and then the set smoothly reverses so both people switch roles. TKD people may think of them as long, extended one-step sparring sets. The Meibukan line actually has full kata that are complements to each other and form a full two man set when performed by two people in opposition with each other.

 

[terryl965]

I tend to do this from time to time and it always amazes me jow much longer the form actually is when you act like it is a real fight and goes thought the techs and just not the movements.

 

[SenseiBear]

I would say keeping combat application in mind does inform my performance - primarily in where I place moments of pause. But also, as I often view the techniques and body positions in good forms as teaching body positions and motions that can be altered into multiple techniques depending on the attack presented - Sometimes my angles and responses change a bit depending on how I see the fight unfolding, and because I have trained the techs in multiple situations.

That being said - the more formal the situation, the more I try to perform the kata as taught to me.

 

[exile]

I tend to do this from time to time and it always amazes me jow much longer the form actually is when you act like it is a real fight and goes thought the techs and just not the movements.

I would say keeping combat application in mind does inform my performance - primarily in where I place moments of pause. But also, as I often view the techniques and body positions in good forms as teaching body positions and motions that can be altered into multiple techniques depending on the attack presented - Sometimes my angles and responses change a bit depending on how I see the fight unfolding, and because I have trained the techs in multiple situations.

Right, and I believe that this is the original intention behind forms. The 'performance standard' kind of abstracts away from the particular applications, but if you're training a tech sequence from the kata for a particular attack/defense situation, you're going to have to adapt the movements tot hat specific situation.

That being said - the more formal the situation, the more I try to perform the kata as taught to me.

OK, this is the interesting part. I know that I—and I would have predicted Terry and a number of other people on the board—often focus on the combat intepretation in forms practice, but it's a different matter when there's a promotion board or a judging panel in front of you... then the question is, how much lattitude do you have for a 'realistic' take on them. Do they insist (or are you at least expecting them to insist) on the 'performance standard', or do you think that a realistic application 'flavor' of performance will actually maybe make a more positive impression?

It would be interesting to know what people who've served as judges in tournaments have to say about this point. I'm sure there's some variation, but it would be useful to hear the thoughts of people who've actually done judging, or have evaluated students for belt promotions. Kwan Jang, Terry, Kacey, Iceman, wade, twendkata... and the rest of you senior TKDists and karatekas... any thoughts on this?

 

[jks9199]

In terms of performance, unless we're doing some sort of group exercise through the form, I always perform with a fighting rhythm. I may adjust the speed slightly for showmanship -- too fast, and nobodys sees anything, too slow and people fall asleep -- but I want that rhythm that's set up by realistic application. In other words, I "fight" the form -- and it's what I want to see when I'm judging.

 

[exile]

In terms of performance, unless we're doing some sort of group exercise through the form, I always perform with a fighting rhythm. I may adjust the speed slightly for showmanship -- too fast, and nobodys sees anything, too slow and people fall asleep -- but I want that rhythm that's set up by realistic application. In other words, I "fight" the form -- and it's what I want to see when I'm judging.

Ah... that's interesting (and very encouraging, from an SD take on the MAs generally). I'd hope this was a fairly widespread view amongst people who find themselves at the judges' or promotion board tables...

 

[foot2face]

My question here is a little different—it's this: to what extent does your understanding and interrpretation of the combat significance encrypted in the forms you know lead you to perform them, in a formal situation, in a manner that's strongly influenced or guided by what you know (or believe) about their combat content?

At my school we didn’t view the forms as a simulated fight, rather a training exercise that catalogued and developed muscle memory of key movements. We had a definite understanding of the forms combat significance and would train their applications by extracting an applicable segment and drilling its use against an attacking training partner but performing the forms was all about honing ideal movement. We used a moderate pace and emphasized executing the techniques with power and fluidity. We didn’t go slow, soft and steady, exaggerating the techniques and progressing through at a gentle pace. Nor did we have a staccato movement, powerfully performing a single technique then briefly pausing before executing the next and so on. We put force into our movement and focused on a fluid transition between techniques, treating each segment like one large movement rather than several smaller separate ones. The instructions my master would most often shout when we were performing our poomse were, “More power”, “Slow down, this is not a race”, “Faster, this is not a rest”, and “Smooth, keep movement smooth”. Practicing the forms in this manner engraining the movements into our body and mind, making them much easier to apply, them when training boon hae.

 

[Explorer]

Up to the black belt level our students are asked to perform the kata as taught. Once a black belt we ask the students to maintain the kata but to also develop personal versions that reflect their bunkai and such. For curriculum purposes everyone does the same kata. For personal training ... black belts hone their personal versions with bunkai and oyo that works for them.