Blast From the past
San Soo Journal Volume 3: Issue 3 Spring 1997
Improving The Flow In San Soo Forms
By Master Ron Gatewood
When Jimmy introduced us to forms it was done in stages. The first forms we learned were not smooth-flowing Kung Fu Forms. They looked like hard-style Karate Forms. very rigid and power oriented. I have films of the “old-timers” doing these forms and if I did not tell you Jimmy taught them, you would have never guessed they were ours. It was “primitive San Soo”. Of course, if someone studied those forms and quit San Soo then he would come back now and look at our current forms and say ‘Those forms you’re doing are not what Jimmy taught!” So again, we have the dilemma of “then and now”, but what will we have in the future? I’m not sure those old forms are actually funny now but then they were very serious as you could see by the serious looks on the performers’ faces! Getting back to the original topic, I would like to discuss how most students perform their forms. Jimmy taught the forms by the numbers as do most San Soo Instructors. I’m not sure this is the best method to teach forms, the reason being that it tends to cause students to start and stop their motion. Kung Fu practitioners who do very long forms don’t seem to know what move #15, #33, or #102 is. They learn by patterns. They start learning the form and continue to add movements in flowing, smooth transitions. When they think of the form they consider it as a whole set, in fact they sometimes call a form a “Set”. The two terms can be used with equal significance. By using the whole set a flow develops which eliminates a starting and stopping action from the form.
Some suggestions to smooth out San Soo Forms:
A) Let the Windmill movements continue to flow from one posture to another.
B) Don’t “bounce” up and down when you shift or move from one horse stance to the next. Your head must be maintained at the same level during the whole form.
C) Avoid start/stop and bouncing with each movement. This is a very Americanized version of performing a form. Your goal is to move more like the Chinese who created the art.
D) Watch a video of Jimmy doing a form and you’ll see very smooth movements as he transitions from one movement to the next.
E) Try practicing your form as a whole entity in itself, eliminating the use of numbers once you have learned the moves.
F) When practicing with your class the instructor may simply start the form by saying “Begin” and then allowing the class to flow smoothly through the form without relying on the numbers being called. It then becomes each students’ responsibility to pace themselves and stay with the class. You must slow down if you get ahead or speed up if you get behind. After a short time of practice, it is amazing at how this invisible bond begins to form and you and your class become like one unit.
