There is a Tai Chi course offered through the university I attend, and though I mainly do Shaolin kung fu, I'm interested in Tai Chi. They teach an 8-movement Tai Chi. I've seen other people do Tai Chi with over 100 movements before; is the 8-movement Tai Chi legitimate? For students who finish the 8-movement, there is an additional class which teaches 4 more movements, for a total of 12. Is it worth taking, or should I try to find one of those places that teaches a longer set? (I just realized that I misspelled "opinions".)
I haven't heard of an eight step form before. Sounds like they are trying to get into the Guiness Book of Records for the world's shortest Taiji form! Although it does sound a bit odd, if you are interested in Taiji then there is no harm in giving it a try as a 'taster'. But if you really want to learn Taiji then in the long run you need to be looking for somewhere that will teach you the long form, pushing hands and the weapon forms. If a class doesn't teach pushing hands then I'd avoid it, because forms alone won't teach you Taiji.
I've heard of a 10-step Yang form, which is a competition/demonstration piece - but not heard of an 8-step?? Definately check it out for yourself if you're interested, but don't judge the entire art on what you may (probably will) find there. It may serve as a good introduction..
Some Taiji class (like my class) will teach you just "1 movement Taiji". You may just do - left brush knee, - right brush knee, - left brush knee, - right brush knee, - ... non-stop until you can master the move "brush knee" completely. You then learn another "1 movement Taiji" such as: - left separate leg, - right separate leg, - left separate leg, - right separate leg, - ... non-stop until you can master the move "separate leg" completely. Every move of the Yang Taiji form can be trained by itself left and right as a solo drill. After you have learned about 48 solo drills, you have learned the entire 108 moves Yang Taiji form which has a lot of redundent moves in it. For example. 1. diagonal fly, 2. ward off, 3. pull back, 4, press forward, 5. push, 6, double pulling, 7, single whip, 8. defending hand, 9. white crane flap wings, 10.left brush knee twist step. 11. right brush knee twist step, 12. hand play lute, 13, step out, deflect, grab, and punch, 14. aparent closing, 15. ... You can start with any 4 solo drills, 8 solo drills, 12 solo drills, ... After you have learned all the building blocks, you can construct your Taiji form anyway that you wish as long as it make logical sense. Nobody will say that you cannot link "diagonal fly" followed by "drop down hammer". It has great "combat" value.
Hi 'nintyplayer', There are 'official' 8 move forms and I teach two unofficial 8 move forms plus a 9/10/??? - we never really have figured it out short form as well as the 'official' 24 move 'Peking' form... The number of moves (size) doesn't really matter - it's what you do with it that counts
