Getting off the Crack

The Yang Family San Shou as taught by Chen Man'Ching was a very strange form for me to see for the first time.  Often times the San Shou paired form is taught as a solo exercise, and even then the movements bear little resemblance to the Solo Yang 88 move long form.

I learned the long form pretty much as demonstrated - repeated Wave Hands Like Clouds and repeated Repulse The Monkey movements could be done back and forth in a narrow hallway.  The same is try for Wild Horse Parts Mane.  In fact, I do remember picking a crack on the floor and following the crack across the room step for step.  

The performer is almost always facing forward or posing with the left or right profile as though demonstrating to an audience.  Movements like Grasp Sparrows Tail face the same compass direction repeatedly.

Rules are out there like always beginning and ending in the exact same spot, or taking the exact same amount of time with each repetition of the form.  Eventually, the choreography gets more strict.  The pattern the form makes on the floor is an important part of the form in several different arts.  Arthur Murray style dance step diagrams start to appear.

Arthur Murray

From Nakayama's Best Karate series, Book 5

I guess what I found so weird about the San Shou form when I compared it to the solo form was the constant change in weighted leg, moving off the line frequently and setting up a stronger attack angle, constantly changing the spatial relationship with the partner.  Years of basic push hands had taught me Aikido and Taijiquan were different, but the San Shou certainly shows Tenkan, Tenkai and Irimi Tenkan movements.

I use this to justify my "getting off the crack" when I do my long form now.  I get off the line and push to a variety of angles and I try to fit my movement to an imaginary partner rather than a chart on the floor.  I don't try to root in place, and I sometimes think I am closer to the intention of the form because of it.  Why not let my form move to a different direction?  Of course, I often go back to what I was first taught, but bringing the advanced form ideas to my basic practice has been illuminating and fun.