Lee Style Tai Chi
Li Style Tai Chi Form DVD: Moves 50 -
At last we have Tony Swanson’s DVD giving his account of the Lee Family Tai Chi Form. Strictly this is his account of moves 50 – 140 and is the continuation of his now rather old beginners DVD. If like me you are not a TAO member this comes in as expensive at a whacking £35.
The first thing to note is that the DVD uses the modern Chinese translation “Li Style” to describe the form. The second thing is that this is much more than a simple rendition of the form to aid you to learn the moves. Tony Swanson in his introduction makes the distinction that the first DVD was designed to show the moves at a basic level and this one shows the moves at a more advanced level. In my view this is correct, and many Lee Style practitioners, even skilled ones who learnt with Chee Soo will notice a number of modifications to the traditional execution of the moves. Over recent years I have encountered a number of these modifications, in isolation the modifications can seem unhelpful, however seeing them across the whole sequence is much more impressive.
To give two examples, move 82, Chee Soo’s book gives the instruction to move, “your left foot back beyond your right foot, and pivoting on your right heel...” Tony is now moving the left leg back to just before the right leg and turning the foot 90, then stepping forward with the right leg and turning the foot 90 dropping into riding horse. Essentially a step back is now more a step forward. However, the execution is great and it works well. I am less convinced by replacing the crossed leg stance at 126 by a scissors stance. This allows 127 to become a duck stance and 128 becomes just a step forward to dragon with the left leg. I still like Chee Soo’s original move were 127 becomes monkey and in 128 the left leg needs to step through to dragon. However, the quality of the moves demonstrated by Tony is, as you would expect, very high. What an experienced student will pick up upon and notice most are the more general changes, which are present throughout the whole demonstration, particularly to hand and arm positions and gestures. These, along with stance transitions, are arguably more defined and detailed and perhaps closer to the execution of moves in other tai chi styles.
Looking at Tony’s execution what is impressive is the application of the 13 core tai chi principles* to the rendition of the movements of the form. This is high quality Lee style but delivered in a way that would be much more recognisable and acceptable to a Yang, Wu, or Sun stylist. I have known the moves of the form for some years but I anticipate that even if I choose not to adopt some of Tony’s changes, using this DVD and the principles it demonstrates I can improve my own practice a lot.
Tony’s first DVD was perhaps a little disappointing and did not convey Tony’s full
skill as a practitioner and a coach. This DVD puts this omission right. In my view
this DVD really does show why so many students look to Tony for guidance, support
and leadership. It is easy to follow the moves and the sequence is supplemented with
side view as well as front. This works well, two moves are missing from the side
view but I doubt you would notice if it wasn’t pointed out in the text. Curiously
two sequences have different names than given in Chee Soo’s book. Moves 77-
However, what really makes this DVD stand out are the added extras. There is a rendition of the full form by world champion Romina Naito. There is also an illustrative outdoor form sequence. There are introductions to sword, fan, stick and flying hands. There are also illustrations of what Tony describes as competition versions of form, sword and fan. The competition forms have to be four minutes long and have other requirements that arise from the origin of competition in Yang style tai chi. In a short time Tony’s students have become very successful winning a hatful of competition medals. The excepts in the DVD clearly show how good these students are at what they do.
I draw a couple of conclusions from looking at this material. The first is Tony is an excellent coach. The second is that these competition students are easily the best I have seen anywhere in Lee style tai chi. My knowledge is far from comprehensive but the quality of performance matches top Yang stylists that you can, for example, view on You Tube. This is the next generation, and they are very impressive, in the end it won’t matter if people like me quibble that this is not quite the form Chee Soo left us, as they should, they are taking the inheritance forward and breathing new life into the system.
This DVD is a landmark and points the way for the future development of Li style practice.
There is now a genuine choice of two excellent versions of the form on DVD. In my view Howard Gibbon’s excellent series of three DVD’s is the other option. Howard’s DVD’s are equally professional and well presented. They are also in my view closer to the traditional way the moves of the form were taught and understood, at least by most students, during the time they were taught by Chee Soo. Howard’s DVD’s present Lee style as I learnt it in the 1990’s and as most people experience it in class, they are therefore an excellent supplement for most of the class teaching that students will encounter.
We are very lucky to have two such rich interpretations of the form by two of Chee Soo’s top students I shall continue to use and value both.
Carl Pearson 3rd April 2010 (Revised)
* I do not mean the 13 principles set out on p34 of Chee Soo’s book, rather the 13 techniques (8 hand and 5 leg movements generally recognised as defining good tai chi practice). See for example, Wong Kiew Kit, Tai Chi p40, or Master Cheng’s Thirteen Chapters p67. I am not aware of Chee Soo ever explicitly writing about these techniques although a review of the Feng Shou book in particular shows that he applied them without necessarily pointing out the Chinese source and translation. By embodying these techniques so clearly in the form Tony has made it very difficult for anyone to claim, as some have, that Lee Style is not proper tai chi.
+ In fact having rechecked Chee Soo’s book Tony is correct. The error is in the listing at the start of the book where these sequences are given different and presumably incorrect names.