Forms practice

It’s approaching Summer and for us that means: demo time. That means not only brushing up on skills so that they are presentable to the public but working together with a group.

People love seeing marching bands step as one and dance teams leaping together so it follows logically that they’d dig watching a group of martial artists punching and kicking together. Trouble is, doing forms as a group is often neglected as a modality of training. Is it really practical to run through a set pre-arranged moves? If so, is it practical to work those same moves in tandem with someone else?

I say yes on both counts. I believe that if those pre-arranged moves are functional for fighting or the concept surrounding the moves is functional for fighting then the form will serve a student martially. In addition, if a student is able to harmonize with a group of fellow students and do a form together, then that same student will find it easier to pick out an opponents rhythm in a fight.

On top of that, synchronized forms look awesome when executed with proper timing. Awesome looking demos mean more students which means more bodies to train with which means better training for everyone.