Keep your back leg straight! Body facing forward!

Yesterday Shifu had us do Gongbu on his count back and forth about 600 times. During which he went around and corrected each of our stance. I heard him say:

Keep your back leg straight! (This one was for me.)

Body facing forward!

Your palm sideway! No sleeping style palm!

Strike at chest level!

Don't slide your foot!

Lower stance!

Extend!

....!

The class was small and it was warm. Shifu might have taken pity on us and slowed down the pace while correcting our basic moves.

I thought we were going to do Gongbu until the end of time. But eventually, we moved on to Cetitui for another 6000 times...

Fun class...

My kung fu friends

I missed you

I didn't realize how much until I saw you all yesterday

Back to Basics, Level 1

Saturday I got sent to Kung Fu Kindergarten again. It might have had something to do with the fun I had the night before in Williamsburg with Quantou, Niederwelt, Billy, Brett, Brett's lady and EZ. Yeah, YEAHHHHHHHHHHH!

So this post, I'll focus on basics, for which we all can use a little brush up. (Some of us more than others, apparently.)

When I studied Chinese briefly last year with Heng De and Xiao Tian, we learned about pinyin, tones, and chinese characters. One of my goals was to at least learn proper pronunciation of the stuff we learn during training. I think learning the characters might have to wait, but for now I try to practice saying the basics correctly with my mom every once in a while. The stuff below is from an email De sent us for Chinese class; I worked with my mom on figuring out the tones. I hope they're right!

CHINESE / PINYIN / ENGLISH

STANCES
弓步 / Gōngbù / Bow Stance
馬步 / Măbù / Horse Stance
虛步 / Xūbù / Empty Stance
叉步 / Tsābù / Crossed Stance
歇步 / Xīebù / Resting Stance
卜步 / Pūbù / Crouched Stance
坐盤 / Zùopán / Seated Stance
丁步 / Dīngbù / T-Shaped Stance

STRIKES
推掌 / Tūizhăng / Pushing Palm Strike
沖拳 / Chōngqúan / Fist Punch

KICKS
踩腳 / Căijiăo / Front Slap Kick
掄臂踩腳 / Lúnbì Căijiăo / Front Slap Kick w/ Rotating Arms
正踢腿 / Zhèngtītŭi / Straight Flex Kick
外擺腿 / Wàibăitŭi / Outside Crescent Kick
里合腿 / Lĭhétŭi / Inside Crescent Kick
側踢腿 / Cètītŭi / Side Flex Kick
正彈腿 / Zhèngtántŭi / Straight Snap Kick
二七腳 / Èrqījĭao / Two-Seven Kick

MOVEMENTS
側手翻 / Cèshŏufān / Side Hand Flip (Cartwheel)
翻腰 / Fānyāo / Turning Waist
仰身雲手 / Yăngshēn Yúnshŏu / Upward Facing Body Cloud Hands
卜步穿掌掄臂砸拳 / Pūbù Chūanzhăng Lúnbì Záqúan / Crouch Stance w/ Piercing Palm Followed by Arm Rotation & Smashing Fist

JUMPS
彈跳 / Tántìao / Spring Jump
雙腿屈膝跳 / Shūangtŭi Qūxītìao / Double-Leg Bent Knee Jump
騰空後撩腿 / Téngkōng Hòlíaotŭi / Soaring Holding-Back Legs (Arched Back)
騰空翻腰 / Téngkōng Fānyāo / Soaring Turning Waist

FORMS – LEVEL 1
初級拳套 / Chūjí Qúantào / Basic Stance Form
一路拳 / Yīlùqúan / First Path Fist
二路拳 / Èrlùqúan / Second Path Fist