Originally posted by East Winds
Yiliquan1
Would you care to explain to us exactly what Yili Taiji is? and what paramaters you consider makes 48 step combined Taiji more "advanced" than 24 step?
Well, to be perfectly honest, having never studied the compulsory sets (i.e. 24, 36, 48, etc.), I'm none too familiar with them. When I am watching someone perform, I can tell whether they have any fighting training in their background, and I can usually tell when someone is just doing "Taiji dance."
The first Taiji form learned in Yili is called Yili Jiju Taijiquan. I am not sure on the number of postures, as I didn't learn it that way nor have I ever referred to it by a numbering method. I was told in Japan that it had the surface appearance of a modified 36 set, but I didn't really know what that meant so the comment just kind of hung there...
Anyway, from what I have been taught, Yili Jiju Taijquan (we just call it the Short Form) is the simplified Yang form with modifications. When our teacher was in China, he saw that the Taiji players all had narrow stances, there root was weak, and there was little evidence of angular application of the postures (their forms were very perpendicular in application - head to head rather than coming in from an angle). Our method of the form opens up the stances, emphasizes the body mechanics (e.g. on Push I have seen folks just bring the hands back to the chest, down to the dan tien, then push out straight - we turn and coil as the hands move to dan tien, and there are variations on practice as to the personal expression of the push), and demonstrates the applications a bit more readily (I think).
I have just started learning our advanced Taiji form. It is almost all 45 degree angles as the postures move, so I'm not sure if it is similar to anything out there or not.
Does that help?
Gambarimasu.
:asian:
