Thursday 29 November 2007

Siu Nim Tao Variations

The most familiar version of siu nim tao to myself, and I presume to most students, is the Yip Man version.
It is said that Yip Man often spent around an hour completing the first section. I should really take more time over this.

Next up we have Gu Lao Wing Chun. This clip is not of siu nim tao as Gu Lao does not utilize the traditional Wing Chun forms. Instead it makes use of 40 techniques, or points which are combined in during combat. I have included this video as it appears to demonstrate a set very similar to siu nim tao but which combines areas of all the other forms. There is also a nice example of sticky hands at the end.


The name Gu Lao traces itself back to the village where Leung Jan, of Prodigal Son fame, retired. It claims a fairly direct and exclusive line of teaching right back to the early development of Wing Chun on the Chinese Opera Red Junks.
I personally like the ides of the small combinations and integration of the forms, perhaps they are not so much integrated as the forms I practice have been seperated out from this.

Lastly for this post, a video from the lineage of Mai Gai Wong or Rice Machine Wong. The most notable point in the clip, for me, is the fact that the hands are followed by the eyes and head.



More Siu Nim Tao soon.

3 comments:

Marco Island said...

Impressive! :)

Private Tutor said...

Wonder if I can do the same!

kartenlegen said...

I love this..showed a lot about Chinese history!