I'm wondering if there's such a 'style' or really more of a 'concept' of a jackie-chan type martial art. Now bare with me before you start laughing!... This type of practice would be a complete mix of learning from existing things (martial arts, juggling, gymastics, etc) and creativity (creating your own movies like jackie chan does where he for examples uses props in a creative way). This concept of using whatever is around you as a weapon im sure is advocated in most any martial art. However its totally free, there are no ranks, theres nothing in it you HAVE to do. ie if you can't or dont want to do acrobatic type moves you dont have to. But in general it would maybe be a mix of like any martial art/parkour (freestyle walking)/coordination activities like juggling and anything you can imagine and put into a physical artform (stuntwork, skateboarding, even dancing) It's really up to the individual. Now to make it more of something people would actually consider doing aside from just people planning to get into movie stunts it would have a name, that way people can search for it on google, start websites about it, even upload video clips of themselves doing their own various creations to share with others (if such a thing already has a agreed upon name can you please tell me what its called) considering most people who are interested in martial arts very rarely, if ever, get into a real fight/self defense situation and how im sure most all of them love the moves they see in martial arts movies (even if they're unrealistic in a street fight) and i think this would be an extremely fun way to get physical exercise, sharpen your mind/creativity and even make new friends or have something to do when you're bored. And even if you are into serious martial art forms you could still do this practice for fun
Try looking under "XMA" or "Xtreme Martial Arts". About as close to what you're thinking of as anything out there. We even have athread or two floating around in the General Discussion area, IIRC.
oh no! anything but the word 'Xtreme'. WHY GOD WHYYYY and i have been reading some on this XMA buisness and it seems to be somewhat different from what i had in mind. Namely that this seems to owned and marketed by someone. What i have in mind wouldnt be owned by anyone and no i wouldnt want any credit for even the idea of it because im sure this idea has been dreampt up countless times by countless others. This should be more like the internet, not owned by anyone, and you'd be completely free. It would simply be a concept that needs a name with absolutely no "shoulds" involved. Ie theres no type of uniform you "should" wear for it, theres no specific moves/techniques you "should" know. But giving this concept a name would bring a sense of realness to it and make it so people can talk about it more easily and find others who are into it more easily. I'm not down with the otomix wearing, mullet sporting, beefcake, stuck in a mid 90s martial art movie made for HBO type scene!
At the end of the day, a backflip is a blackflip no matter what art you do. A backflip isn't owned by anyone; its available to everyone who is prepared to put the work into learning it.
right. i just think it would be interesting to specialize in a method of creative training ideas where you're constantly inventing/sharing these types of moves as opposed to limiting yourself to only what you've seen (ie backflips). this type of creative/coordinated effort would enhance your realistic fighting ability and keep your workouts fun and fresh forever. Too often we just practice what we're taught and dont think up things on our own. In individual sports like skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, they're always not only just learning what already is out there, but constantly creating NEW "tricks". I think it would be nice to bring this idea into the martial art world but give it a name. Perhaps it will never have a name but it seems like it would progress much more if it did
"Choregraphy" maybe hmm. But what im thinking of is you'd invent certain 'tricks' (be it fighting tricks or, jackie chan like flipping a chair a certain way, tricks) and this would be something you try to do all the time, not just make up once for a movie scene then forget about it. And on the other side of that (and unlike choreography) you'd do 'freestyle' moves that you just make up on the spot, with or without a prop. know what i mean?
Then go to a padded gymnasium and have a jump around You'll find that there are plenty of people doing the same thing, experimenting and looking for new ways of doing something It's much like free running; nobody owns it... it's available to everyone. Granted you might find people teaching it, but at the end of the day, it's a physical ability which cannot be owned by anyone. You may find some schools that teach such things as XMA, allow for it's students to experiment as they wish.
Well.. about those XMA's.. there is something like this team "teamryouko.com" their actual goal is to do demo's and performances and stuff, but in their free time (like friday night) they just go nuts in a gym and it looks very, very cool.. But what they do is indeed a mix of everything you mentioned, from dancing to martial arts and gymnastics.. And I guess these guys call what they do extreme martial arts :cry: There should be some little sample movies on their site you could check out to see if it's what your looking for. If not on their site, I have some on my computer, but we should have to find a way to get it on yours
Jackine chan is opening a school in china that covers all the stunts and fighting he does and acting. it was also be availble to people from every country and he eventually plans on branching out to th U.S.
Actually things like teamryouko.com aren't exactly what i meant (although that could be part of it) I was thinking it would go beyond the normal 'gymnastics/breakdancing' stuff and more into something anyone of any age and physical condition could do (not that i can't do a lot of jumping kicks and acrobatics i just don't like to because it doesn't look like martial arts to me. Though i'm sure it does to most people thanks to hollywood.) I was thinking more in terms of props and precision. ie; dropping a soda can and catching it with your foot. why? well because say someone accidently drops something and you catch it with your foot all 'shaolin kwai chain kang' style, thats both practical and cool! And obviously requires a lot of skill, a skill that most people don't have (not something any gymnist or breakdancer could likely do if they wanted) That's just an exmple though
Jackie Chan has been teaching for quite sometime in Hong Kong with his group Dragon Stunt Team. They have a large warehouse studio with different types of settings e.g a living room, carpark and scaffolding. All equipped with cameras, the team does various stunts while Jackie is behind a monitor and see if it looks good on the monitor looking for little mistakes such as ... falling incorrectly - a breakfall looks like a breakfall, so one must learn how to land 'badly' which looks more realistic. Bad timing - One of the more famous trademarks. Jackie is a dancer by train and trade, so everything is done in rythms. He has one of those pendulum things which ticks our a beat (its what musicians use..but i dont know what its called) Eyes - One must look at where he is landing, but not make it obvious. He makes several examples in his documentaries where a stuntman is falling and he stares at where he lands...which is not good. Anyone well trained enough can flip and fight, its a totally different animal to make it look good....that means acting. If you want to learn how to be a stuntman then take a stuntman course (yes there is one) which is very expensive. Or learn WWE pro-wrestling which is basically the same thing, acting with action and giving/taking hits without injury. Also stuntmen also need to take acting lessons and vice versa (stage combat). As I have posted in the past, I have had and seen many auditions where an MAist thinks he can get into any role simply because he can do flips and kicks....until it comes to acting like taking hits theyre about as stiff as an old man on 5 viagras. *note* Jackie/Sammo/Jet/JCVD (yes, him) are not Gods. About a million people are better than them at doing stunts, there are probably, nay most likely people on MAP who are better than them. Yet they are revered. Why? Because they have a natural charm and a skill that are liked by audiences. If you dont have the audience's heart...then even the worlds most perfect 360 spin kick cant help you.
From your posts you said you also want to work with props etc. Which is taught at Stunt school. (well technically is not a school, more like to be registered users) Then there are other types too such as firearms, weaponary, vehicle (cars, boats, planes) explosives...all have to be by specialists. There are basically 'stuntmen' for almost every type of stunt imaginable. Some may only do falls and jumps, some may only do fights, other may only do car crashes, shoot guns, be shot by guns, fly a plane, parachute, skydive, diving in general, knife handling, wire work, holding a pen, rock climbing, motorcycle riding etc. Originally you said something about catching cans, using props around you...well that is taught as well but it is also basic experimentation. Yuen Woo Ping plans his fights to the last hop and skip. Jackie kinda does it on the fly. Tricksters/Breakers/Fighters are not the 'norm' but actually just one element of 'movie-fu' as some people callously call it. To be "outside" of the box in stunts is difficult to just sit and think about it..you have to do it and have (done) it. So if you havent done any stunts/stuntwork/choreography before and say "what would be different?" is kind of like a monkey telling a fish how not to swim. If you have done stunts before then look at your old work, see what else you could have done and basically play with stuff. (safely) Good luck and have fun.
