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White Crane Spreads Its Wings And Snow Rabbit Digs The Earth: Kinetograms Of Contrasting Styles Within Chinese Martial And Meditative Arts Of Taijiquan (T’Ai Chi Ch’Uan, 太极拳) And Qigong (Chi Gong, 气功), Keith Mcewing

Journal of Movement Arts Literacy Archive (2013-2019)

Taijiquan is a Chinese martial art that developed in the 17th century from a base of traditional forms from earlier centuries. Now widely practiced internationally, it is promoted as gentle exercise, as self-defense and as movement meditation with significant health benefits. Qigong, consisting of similar movement but intended entirely as a health benefit, has been practiced for considerably longer. This paper discusses the advantages of having Taijiquan sequences or forms recorded with Kinetography Laban/Labanotation over other various memory aids for learning the martial art. It explains the basic principles of Taijiquan and how these can be best captured in the …