- Joined
- Aug 26, 2000
- Messages
- 15
This has probably been discussed before, but I'm new to the bladeforums, and have always wanted to know this.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s just before William Cheung first started publishing his series about the weaponry, and Bil Gee form of Wing Chun, Escrima and Arnis had already begin to spread throughout the country Remy Presas had his book out about 5 years earlier, Dan had been giving seminars, Mat Marinas, and a few others were going around to schools on the East coast.
The Balisong had just started to become popular, and a lot of the cheapo knife companies were making knockoffs, and many MA were eager to learn more about some of the hidden aspects of WC, and Chi Sao, and of course the Dragon Pole and the Butterfly Knives.
Our little club had been doing sticks for a couple years, training mostly in Abecedario, 1-12, Regular and Reverse Sinawali, learning the terminology, and concentrating on basic single stick stuff, a lot of it from Guro Dan's book.
When I first looked through Cheung's book, it was with a lot of interest, because I already had been to some classes with one of Bruce Lee's contemporaries, who had set up a small studio in Va Beach, and was struggling with the basics of Chi Sao (as we knew it, at the time!). It was very apparent that the basics of FMA allowed my WC studies make a lot more sense.
However after looking through Cheung's book, my immediate thought was "he stole the basics of sinawali and added it to the Butterfly Knives!!"
Suffice it to say, I don't want to make this a 'they stole our Sh*t' thread, but I'm wondering if my initial impressons were shared with others in the forum, or if it could possibly be true that the aspects of sinawali could possibly have been discovered independently and used by the WC stylists, and that Bill Cheung really was giving the true scoop on the Butterfly Knives.
What makes me say this is that the changes that only a few months of study of FMA caused my understanding, conceptualization, and ability in my original MA to increase in a short time by a huge quantum leap, and I just couldn't believe that other arts could resist incorporating the FMA concepts into their stuff post haste.
Hope my question is clear, and again, I'm just trying to get a grasp on the historical and developmental aspects of two arts that are admittedly at least very complementary. While I don't mind concepts being shared and used, it's still of historical interest to me as to what the original Butterfly Knives form and uses were. Unfortunately, before Bill Cheung, there was little in print about the system. I think Joseph Cheung (sp?) no relation had some stuff out about that time, but he only had a couple pix on them.
So if anyone has had any WC training, or knows any 'insider' stories on the whole business, I'd love to hear about it.
Thanks!
------------------
Life is but a brief Window of opportunity.
Back in the late 70s and early 80s just before William Cheung first started publishing his series about the weaponry, and Bil Gee form of Wing Chun, Escrima and Arnis had already begin to spread throughout the country Remy Presas had his book out about 5 years earlier, Dan had been giving seminars, Mat Marinas, and a few others were going around to schools on the East coast.
The Balisong had just started to become popular, and a lot of the cheapo knife companies were making knockoffs, and many MA were eager to learn more about some of the hidden aspects of WC, and Chi Sao, and of course the Dragon Pole and the Butterfly Knives.
Our little club had been doing sticks for a couple years, training mostly in Abecedario, 1-12, Regular and Reverse Sinawali, learning the terminology, and concentrating on basic single stick stuff, a lot of it from Guro Dan's book.
When I first looked through Cheung's book, it was with a lot of interest, because I already had been to some classes with one of Bruce Lee's contemporaries, who had set up a small studio in Va Beach, and was struggling with the basics of Chi Sao (as we knew it, at the time!). It was very apparent that the basics of FMA allowed my WC studies make a lot more sense.
However after looking through Cheung's book, my immediate thought was "he stole the basics of sinawali and added it to the Butterfly Knives!!"
Suffice it to say, I don't want to make this a 'they stole our Sh*t' thread, but I'm wondering if my initial impressons were shared with others in the forum, or if it could possibly be true that the aspects of sinawali could possibly have been discovered independently and used by the WC stylists, and that Bill Cheung really was giving the true scoop on the Butterfly Knives.
What makes me say this is that the changes that only a few months of study of FMA caused my understanding, conceptualization, and ability in my original MA to increase in a short time by a huge quantum leap, and I just couldn't believe that other arts could resist incorporating the FMA concepts into their stuff post haste.
Hope my question is clear, and again, I'm just trying to get a grasp on the historical and developmental aspects of two arts that are admittedly at least very complementary. While I don't mind concepts being shared and used, it's still of historical interest to me as to what the original Butterfly Knives form and uses were. Unfortunately, before Bill Cheung, there was little in print about the system. I think Joseph Cheung (sp?) no relation had some stuff out about that time, but he only had a couple pix on them.
So if anyone has had any WC training, or knows any 'insider' stories on the whole business, I'd love to hear about it.
Thanks!
------------------
Life is but a brief Window of opportunity.