Sun Lu Tang was the creator of Sun style tai chi. He had
several children. One of them was a daughter, Sun JianYun. I am embedding a
video here of Sun JianYun performing the family style of tai chi. This is the
97 form routine.
There are a few points here that I want to emphasize. First
of all, she moves very quickly, but every step is precise. The follow steps are
always placed in the same place. She barely touches her foot down before she is
moving it again. This doesn't happen by accident. It takes years of practice to
make this happen.
Second, she is very flexible and limber. She does a kick at
about 5:00 into the video where her foot goes about chest height. I don't know
exactly how old she was when this video was made, but she must be well into her 80s.
That flexibility is what a lifetime of tai chi can do for you. It's not
immortality, but it is great health into old age.
Third, she demonstrates the Sun sword forms beginning at
about 6:20. Note the Bagua footwork here. There is a lot of
"slicing", but not much "thrusting". I have never seen this
before. Really interesting.
Starting at about 5:20, she demonstrates something else that
I can't identify. Can someone help me out here and tell me what she is doing?
© 2014 Eric Borreson
At 5:20 it looks like Sun style Xing Yi.
ReplyDeletesallyg, thanks for the comment. That's helpful.
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