Analysis

There’s a time to think about technique and a time to apply technique.  The training floor provides a space to do both.  Forms can be a unique opportunity to think about technique.  Forms can also be a series of dance moves with no martial content.

How do we keep forms martial?  One way is to pick small segments of a form, drill them and then drill the application of those moves with a partner.  If a form contains a block, practice the block as it appears in the form then try using it against an incoming strike.  That’s easy.

Another way to keep forms martial is to take the theme of a form (power, for instance), drill the form with that in mind and then transfer that theme to a partner drill.  It’s certainly a vaguer approach but one well worth pursuing.

The fun part of keeping forms martial is that once you start being able to do it, the form and the application become a positive feedback loop.  You pick out a technique in a form and try it out on a partner.  It works, but only after you shift your weight just so.  Then next time you do the form, you put in that weight shift, thus making the form more real.  Sometimes things go the other way – you try a move on a partner and it doesn’t work at all then later you stumble across the move in a form, think about your body mechanic, tweak it, bring it back to application and then it works.

It’s a practice that takes time but all things worth learning are that way.