Evolution of the Solo Form

A Brief Introduction to the Evolution of the 150 Posture Solo Form
copyright 2001, Ray Hayward

All styles of T'ai-Chi can ultimately trace their forms to the Chen Family style of Martial Arts. The Historical founder of this style, Chen Wan-ting, was a general during the Ming dynasty. Through his involvement in the military he was particularly interested in spear and empty-hand fighting techniques and training methods. When he retired, he spent his time practicing, researching, and teaching his three life-long pursuits-the spear, empty-hand fighting, and Taoist meditation.

Chen is credited with creating seven empty-hand routines, which embraced characteristics of Taoism, and two styles of spear fencing. The first five routines of empty-hand were very short and were called simply, routine number one, routine number two, and so on to routine number five. The last two routines were longer and were named P'ao-Chui (Cannon Hammer/Fist) and Chang Ch'uan (Long Fist). Chen used the theory of yin and yang to train the body for speed, power, offense, defense, and sensitivity. He added the ch'i circulation of Taoist Meditation to calm the students' minds and refine their energy.

The first five routines were practiced with a ratio of 80% soft and slow movements and 20% hard and fast movements. This helped students learn defense (Hua). The Cannon Fist routine, which has 72 postures, was practiced with a ratio of 80% hard and fast movements and 20% slow and soft movements. This helped the students learn attacking (Da). The Long Fist routine, which has 108 postures, was evenly balanced of 50% hard and fast and 50% slow and soft. This helped the students learn seizing (Na).

Gradually the successive Chen generations combined the five short routines into one long routine with anywhere from 88 to 108 to 150 postures called Lao-Chia or "Old Frame". This is one of the forms the founder of our style, Yang Lu-chan learned and sub sequentially modified and improved to be known as the T'ai-Chi Ch'uan most people practice in the world today. When we look at the Lao-chia (we call it Solo Form) we can easily see the five ideas behind the original five routines.

Our teacher, Master T.T. Liang, told us that each of the original five routines began with 'Grasp Sparrows Tail' and 'Single Whip' and ended with 'Cross Hands' and 'Conclusion'. Liang broke down our Solo Form into six sections, capsulizing the original five routines. There are as follows:

First Section, postures 1-22
Repulse Monkey section, postures 23-54
Kick section, postures 55-73
Fair Lady section, postures 74-106
Repulse Monkey section (repeat)-postures 107-132
Last Section - postures 133-150

Each section/routine has its own unique flavor and emphasis, as well as its difficulties and lessons. The mastery in linking the sections together has held T'ai-Chi enthusiasts captive for years. Whether it was done intuitively or deliberately, the Solo Form sequence is a treasure of choreography, which will bear fruit for generations to come. As this is only a brief introduction I'll end here, but I'd like to share two quotes from my T'ai-Chi teachers.

"Yang Chien-hou (2nd Generation), had his soft and hard in perfect coordination. So his Solo Form was yin and yang, soft outside, hard inside. Slow in practice, fast in use. Soft for defense, hard for offense. Because of him, we use only one form to practice all the variations of yin and yang."
~Master T.T. Liang

"Yang style T'ai-Chi is like a Shark swimming through the water, slowly and smoothly hunting for food. When it sees a fish it moves quickly, powerfully and attacks and eats it."
~Master Wai-Lun Choi

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