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One common thing I hear is that your forms should end on the same spot you started, assuming you had consistent stances throughout the forms. However, with both the Palgwe-style and Taegeuk forms I've learned, you usually end up either a few steps forward or backward of your starting point.
The reason for this seems to be that your proper stances are not in a straight line, and that anchor points shift as you perform the form. For example, if you take the Kibon Il Jang or Palgwe Il Jang, which both follow the same basic I pattern (assuming your font has the right type of I). Theoretically if you do 2 steps left and 2 steps right, that should balance out, and if you do 4 steps forward and 4 steps back, then that should balance as well.
However, the nature of the stances is that they are wide. The first move is a step to the left, but you have a wide stance, so your left foot is placed behind your starting position. Where the right leg goes in the second step is largely irrelevant, because the left foot is your anchor point for the turn into the third move. You have now effectively shifted the line back a half step.
This gets corrected at Moves #9-12, where you do a mirror of Steps #1-4 and essentially shift the line back. If the form ended at Step #16, you'd be on the same spot as before. But when you add in Steps #17-20, you again shift the line back a half step. Your ending position in this case is always the width of your stance behind your starting position.
I've just recently started on the Taegeuks. I learned them before as an elective to our curriculum, and am going through them again. With Taegeuk Il Jang, I see a similar thing as in the Kibon and Palgwe forms. In theory, you have 2 full steps forward and 2 full steps back, and should end up on the same spot as before. But when I start practicing on the edge of the mat, I find I have to do a stutter step for the last step to stay on the mat, because the Taegeuk form ends up behind my starting point as well!
The reason for this, as best I can tell, is the way in which you turn. Once again, because your stances are not in a straight line, but rather shoulder width apart, and because of how you shift in each set in the form.
Has anyone else noticed this? I often hear "you should end your form in the same spot as you started", but I feel if people do that, it usually means that their stances are too narrow, or they're moving forward with longer steps than they go back with. For most forms "you should end a step behind where you started" seems more accurate to me.
The reason for this seems to be that your proper stances are not in a straight line, and that anchor points shift as you perform the form. For example, if you take the Kibon Il Jang or Palgwe Il Jang, which both follow the same basic I pattern (assuming your font has the right type of I). Theoretically if you do 2 steps left and 2 steps right, that should balance out, and if you do 4 steps forward and 4 steps back, then that should balance as well.
However, the nature of the stances is that they are wide. The first move is a step to the left, but you have a wide stance, so your left foot is placed behind your starting position. Where the right leg goes in the second step is largely irrelevant, because the left foot is your anchor point for the turn into the third move. You have now effectively shifted the line back a half step.
This gets corrected at Moves #9-12, where you do a mirror of Steps #1-4 and essentially shift the line back. If the form ended at Step #16, you'd be on the same spot as before. But when you add in Steps #17-20, you again shift the line back a half step. Your ending position in this case is always the width of your stance behind your starting position.
I've just recently started on the Taegeuks. I learned them before as an elective to our curriculum, and am going through them again. With Taegeuk Il Jang, I see a similar thing as in the Kibon and Palgwe forms. In theory, you have 2 full steps forward and 2 full steps back, and should end up on the same spot as before. But when I start practicing on the edge of the mat, I find I have to do a stutter step for the last step to stay on the mat, because the Taegeuk form ends up behind my starting point as well!
The reason for this, as best I can tell, is the way in which you turn. Once again, because your stances are not in a straight line, but rather shoulder width apart, and because of how you shift in each set in the form.
- Steps 1-4 have you move back a half step compared with your starting position, just like the Kibon/Palgwe form
- Step 5 has you move a whole stop forward. However, your transition into Step 6 has you anchor on your front leg and slide your back leg into the stance, which means that you don't move a whole step forward. Steps 6-9 will be anchored on your starting line.
- The anchor point for the turn forward into Step 10 is actually behind your starting line. It may be even with or slightly in front, depending on the difference between your walking stance width and front stance length. You would think since you're halfway through the form you would be well forward, but you're in virtually the same spot.
- The turn from Step 10-11 is the same as from Step 5-6. However, this time you are moving forwards for Steps 11-14. The other two horizontal lines shift backwards with their turns, this makes up for one of them.
- The turn from Step 14-15 is a step across your rearward foot towards the rear of the room. This means your anchor point is at the rear, and you make a full step towards the rear. There are no turns like in Step 6 or Step 11 that negate some of the length of your step. So Steps 15 & 16 are truly a full step back.
Has anyone else noticed this? I often hear "you should end your form in the same spot as you started", but I feel if people do that, it usually means that their stances are too narrow, or they're moving forward with longer steps than they go back with. For most forms "you should end a step behind where you started" seems more accurate to me.
