Most Applications are Just Stage Combat

Applications Rant.

I teach applications. Applications are all about capturing a feeling. A feeling of moving through space, of getting a hold, of clearing, catching, spinning, or tipping. The point of an application is to get a feeling, and then find that feeling again spontaneously in some kind of rough-housing game. 

The chances of getting an application from a video are very small. Applications in a video are a type of stage combat designed to recruit students. If you can see it without slow-motion it is usually an illusion. And even if a video uses the slow-motion effect, you can't feel it. And applications are all about feeling.

I just want to point out that since 2005 when Youtube was invented there has been a lot of development in this specific type of stage combat. Most of it is crap, it isn't funny or entertaining, or virtuosic. It's main purpose is to make you think, "this is real." But this stuff isn't real. If the teacher always wins, it ain't real. If nobody gets hurt, it ain't real. 

It is marketing, and that's fine. But when people watch my videos and then demand to see applications, this gig has gone too far. They are essentially saying, "Prove that you are real by showing me something fake." 

There is a simple solutions. Treat it like theater, make it funny, make it strange, make it surprising, make it cute. Whatever. Just don't bore me with fake applications. And if you want me to recommend students to your school, don't Monkey Dance. Marketing to students that you are the biggest monkey is not cool. 

Note: Professional stage choreographers might be annoyed that I am dignifying "applications" with the title stage combat. You should be annoyed. Many stage choreographers have been arguing that martial arts and stage combat are different. They are not different, they are just on a different type of stage. And "applications-people" really need your help.  

Meanwhile, enjoy a little Bagua in the park.