I have been focusing a lot more on weapons work recently, as Sifu wants to pass on certain weapons sets to me to ensure that they are not lost to posterity. I am becoming quite proficient with the sabre / broadsword but mastery of the sword still eludes me. There is a saying that it takes 三年練刀,十年練劍,一輩子練槍。Three years to master the broadsword, ten years to master the sword and a lifetime to master the spear.
There is a tendancy for me to use large movements and swing my body when using the sword, and not to use my wrists so Sifu asked me to watch the youtube videos of Mei Lan Fang 梅蘭芳, the famous Peking Opera performer. It is well known that students of some of the Chinese arts such as Lion Dance and Opera had a gruelling apprenticeship that included gymnastics and martial arts. Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung in Hong Kong are good examples of this. There is also an intimate relationship between the sword dances and traditional martial arts, indeed many historians speculate that it is the sword dance that is a precursor and catalyst of many of the martial arts "sets" that we use in Chinese Kung fu and also an important reason for the perfomance aspect of martial arts.
Anyhow watching Mei Lan Fang in Farewell my Concubine above 霸王别姬 is a revelation, especially the double sword sets which starts at 1:50. I have included the above video to share with my viewers. Notice the economy of movement and how the swords seem to "float".
For viewers who are interested in finding out more about Mei Lan Fang there was a good Biopic filmed by the award winning director Chen Kaige in 2008 called Forever Enthralled.
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