This seems to be the fundamental difference in the way Obijaunsalami and I see the stance compared to how you see it. If all you think the stance is is putting weight on your legs, then that is fundamentally different to how we see it as a developmental tool that establishes a foundation for all of the kung fu that a person will ever do.
If all you think a stance is is putting weight on your legs, then sure, footwork (that is to say stepping etc.) may as well come immediately since it seems you put no developmental value in a stance.
For us however the stance develops all the fundamental attributes that you need to do kung fu, and if you either don’t do the necessary stance training, or rush it (which is essentially what you seem to advocate), you cut short the development of those attributes; that is assuming you actually train your stance in a way to develop those attributes in the first place (most people I have seen don’t train it in that way, by the way). This is why Obijaunsalami said you are developing your footwork from the very moment you open your stance. It is also why he said that the better your stance training is the higher quality you will get at the outcome.
So, going back to the initial question that started this thread, (paraphrasing here) is there much footwork in wing chun? And the OP noted how, as a beginner he seems to be doing a lot of stance training and not much “footwork”. And he is doing YKS wing chun (which Obijuansalami and I have done for years).
In the context of YKS wing chun, if you do it the way Sum Nung taught it, you can expect to do NOTHING but stance training intensively for around 4, 5 or 6 months at least. This is because the stance is 1) a developmental tool, and 2) as such lays the foundation for literally everything a person will do in wing chun and so the quality of the stance sets the benchmark for the quality of the wing chun in general.
Yes, in YKS wing chun there is heaps of footwork, it would seem, perhaps more so than many interpretations of YM style; footwork is inseparable from pretty much every aspect of YKS wing chun. So for the OP yes, eventually it is ALL ABOUT the footwork but first comes the stance; so if you are learning YKS wing chun, from Alton Miller, who comes through from Kwok Wan Ping, then you must do adequate stance training or the rest of it will not work. YKS wing chun is fundamentally different from YM style and more difficult (I have learned and teach both so unlike most I actually have a basis for comparison). So I wouldn’t worry about not doing footwork as a beginner and doing stance training. That is the correct way to learn it.
To give you an example. I once was having difficulty with my punches (YM style) so I went and asked my Sifu (private student of Yip Chun and later, disciple of Sum Nung), “sifu, my punch isn’t feeling right, can you see what’s wrong with it?” He told me to show him and after I did he said, “go do more stance training”. At the time I didn’t understand what the hell my legs (yep, at the time I thought of my stance as my legs only) had to do with my punch. Shortly after that he took me as a private student, I learned YKS style from him the traditional way and did nothing but stance training for about 4 months. Some time after that I was teaching HK style in his class for him and showed some students how to punch, having not done any punches for months. To my astonishment my punch came out faster, smoother with more focus and a lot more relaxed than it ever had before; all from nothing but stance training. I hadn’t trained my punch, but I had trained the sh&* out of the foundation on which the punch is based.
That is the difference with the stance as developing the attributes for kung fu, and the stance as simply putting weight on your legs.
