2024 Edit: I didn’t have a picture from the evening I’m writing about, so I put one up from October 31, 2003 in San Diego, California since (for some reason) I don’t have too many photos of DX and I hanging out together.
Just wanted to post up a quick entry about some stuff that happened last night.
I was hanging out with DX, Tina and my friend Inori. During a few moments when DX and I were just hanging out by ourselves I asked him a few questions about my nan quan.
The first question I asked was “What is the one worst thing about my nan quan (i.e. the thing I need to work on the most) and what is the one best thing about my nan quan (i.e. the thing I seem to have a good grasp of).”
He said that some of my movements don’t have enough extention and that I need to work on my pacing. I have times in my form when I need to pause a bit longer, and times when I do a strike or a fa-shang (yell) and need to hold it out there and extend more, before going to the next move. He also mentioned that my upper body was much stronger than my lower body but that it was probably because I was still trying to get my legs back in shape. That imbalance was causing some lack of total coordination when issuing or generating power for strikes.
The thing he said was best about my nan quan was the flavor or feeling of the nan quan. He said that I had a good grasp of how nan quan was supposed to feel and that my power and flavor was in line with what nan quan power and flavor is supposed to be like. He even went so far as to say that I had a better feel for nan quan than some athletes he’s seen compete in China, but I tend to think he was being “tai ke qi” (overly complimentary).
The next question I asked was what traditional weapon would be best suited for my body and ability. He went through a list of weapons while thinking about it and considering each one. 9 section whip? Hmm .. no … 3 section staff? no … double broadsword? No .. wrong body type .. We actually settled on Pu Dao. I guess he said it’s easier on the legs, which is an issue with me, and that for nan quan people it’s not too far from the other stuff I’m doing, (as opposed to double hooks, I guess). I said something to the effect of “Easy on my knees? But don’t you do arials and twists in your form?” and he explained that it was just the way his was choreographed, but that you can do a nicely choreographed Pu Dao form without all the crazy acrobatics. (I’m paraphrasing again).
He’s giving a Pu Dao seminar in the beginning of May at TCWR so I guess I’ll pick that as my starting point for the new form. Good thing he lives close to me. Maybe I can get him to give me pointers on occasion too. I will probably ask him to help me pick out a nice Pu Dao when it comes time to get one too.