Yet more Brennan -- Hao Style Taiji

[Louis Swaim]

Greetings,

Paul Brennan continues to post translations of great taijiquan materials on his site. His newest work, posted today, is 武式太極拳 WU [YUXIANG] STYLE TAIJI BOXING, by 郝少如 Hao Shaoru (Brennan titles it Hao Style Taiji:
http://brennantranslation.wordpress.com ... yle-taiji/

Some posters here may recall a number of discussions on this forum in which the term 腾挪 téngnuó came up. This term likely had special significance to Wu Yuxiang, who introduced it in his early taiji writings. The term appears 33 times in Hao's book, which gives some idea of its importance in that lineage. Brennan translates 腾挪 throughout as "being ready" or "being ready to move." I'm not quite convinced that quite captures it, however. If it means being ready, it's a very heightened state of readiness, as in what we might call the ability to "turn on a dime" in response to any situation.

I'm really looking forward to digging into this translation. I've read the Hao Shaoru material closely in the past, so this will be a good opportunity to get back into it. It's very interesting, with very detailed analysis of theory from the Wu-Hao perspective.

--Louis

[BBTrip]

Greetings Louis,

Saw a video today of Zhao Youbin playing Yang style Taiji. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ipfOlt_PcA#t=00m37s
I liked his movement. So, I Googled, and found a bio about his father, Zhao Bin, that states his connection to the Yang Family.

Then, I saw your Post about Brennan’s Wu/Hao translation. Thought the info would be of slight interest.
Here’s the interesting excerpts from the article Zhao Bin and the Yang family:

his great-uncles Yang Shaohou and Yang Chengfu treated him as if he were their own grandson.

His great-uncles also taught him to practice taiji from an early age. Even Zhao’s original name ‘Zhao Wu’, carried the meaning of inheriting the Yang family’s martial traditions. Zhao’s primary school teacher was none other than the famous Wu (Hao) style master Hao Weizhen, who taught taiji as a one of the school subjects.

http://wulinmingshi.wordpress.com/2011/ ... ng-family/