FROM PATTERN-SETS TO SEQUENCE-SETS -- OVERVIEW
Have you ever wondered how kungfu sets were composed?
Originally people fought haphazardly, not unlike untrained persons do today. Gradually those who fought frequently discovered that certain ways of fighting were advantageous. Over time these advantageous ways of fighting were stylized into kungfu patterns.
To remember these patterns and to pass them on to succeeding students, kungfu masters linked these patterns into sets. For convenience, we call these types of sets that are composed of individual patterns, “pattern-sets”. An example of a pattern-set is “Tiger-Crane”. Except for the starting and the concluding patterns, each of the 36 patterns in this set are different.
Kungfu masters also discovered that if they linked certain patterns into a sequence and applied the sequence instead of individual patterns in combat, they would have various advantages. If they executed an attack using the pattern “Black Tiger Steals Heart”, for example, in theory their opponents could respond in countless, unpredictable ways. But in practice their responses were quite predictable, and would fall within a range of probable responses. Hence, masters could work out suitable combat sequences in anticipation of how their opponents would response.
When these combat sequences are linked together, they form a set. For convenience, we call it a combat sequence-set. “Black Tiger Steals Heart”, “Happy Bird Hops up Branch” and “Felling Tree with Roots” are combat sequence-sets.
Course participants employed patterns form their selective sets to work out suitable combat sequences based on various themes. After refining their patterns and sequences, the participants linked them together into combat sequence-sets. The video clips here show both their effort and result concerning the Dragon Form Set and the Dragon-Tiger Set.
- Combat Application of Dragon Form
- Swerving Movement of the Dragon
- Dragon Manifests Miraculous Power
- Effective Use of Body-Movement and Footwork
- Combat Application Set of Dragon Form
- Strike Opponent When he Just Completes Attacks
- Phoenix in Dragon Form
- When there is From, Strike Form; When there is No Form, Chase Shadow
- Beautiful forms for Beautiful Applications
- Essence of Dragon and Tiger
- Combat Applications of Dragon and Tiger
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