Taiji being demonstrated at the famous Wudang Temple, spiritual home of the Taoist arts. Notice they wear the long hair of Taoist Adepts. Source: Wikimedia.
Taijiquan being demonstrated at the famous Wudang Temple, spiritual home of the Daoist arts. Source: Wikimedia.

Greetings from an Airport Somewhere in Europe!

I am currently in transit, returning from my recent visit with the 5th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Sport Science’s Martial Arts Commission at the Sports University of Cologne.  I hope to post a full report on the conference, as well as the text of my paper, sometime next week.  In the mean time I thought that I would share one of the Keynotes that was delivers at the Martial Arts Studies Conference held this July at Cardiff University.  Best of all, you can now watch this (and most of the other keynotes) on the Martial Arts Studies youtube channel.  Just click the link below.

In this paper Daniel Mroz attempts to tackle some of the fundamental questions that underlie the ubiquitous, but still mysterious, practice of Taolu (or set forms) within the Chinese martial arts.  One suspects that the framework that he advances here might also be helpful in thinking about a range of other Asian martial practices.  Enjoy!

Taolu: Credibility and Decipherablility in the Practice of Chinese Martial Movement