San-Shou
A Short History
copyright 1997, Ray Hayward

In the T'ai-Chi Ch'uan system, there is a 2-person form called San-Shou or "free-hand." Sometimes it is called "miscellaneous combat." Master T.T. Liang referred to it as the T'ai-Chi 2-Person Dance, or just as "the dance." To him, dancing is an act of cooperation, and he felt that the 2-Person form taught people how to cooperate with each other.

San-Shou, created by Yang Chien-hou, is an advanced progression from pushing and pulling to punching, kicking, knock-downs and joint locks. Master Liang learned the San-Shou from Master Hsiung Yang-hou in Taiwan. Gradually, Master Liang added the other 2-person practices of pushing-hands and ta-lu to make his 178-posture 2-person dance. On a historical note, some of the postures in the San-Shou are not found in the Yang style solo form, but are from the original Chen style.

At the studio, it takes about one year to learn the 178 movements. We have seen that, year after year, people complete one side, but really don't have time to take the form to the deeper levels. Paul and I have been discussing and working to abbreviate the San-Shou back to its original length, which is about 72 movements. We are going to experiment for one year and try a six- month course to learn the shortened version, and another six months for corrections, principles and advanced studies. We will try this for the upcoming year and if it doesn't work well, we will go back to the 178-posture sequence and try another method for teaching this level.

If you have any questions or concerns, please see Paul or myself.

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