Great improvement over earlier works
I have Dr. Yang's earlier DVD "Taijiquan, Classical Yang Style" and while it's a great supplement to taking lessons and reading the book, I think it's hard for a beginner to follow along because the camera keeps cutting to different angles and the student can get lost as to which direction to move.
This new video has so much to offer a beginner, that's it's a world of difference. The whole sequence is shot from one steady camera angle both from the front and the back so the student can follow along easily. Also in the instruction part, each movement is broken down from several angles, but mostly Dr Yang turns and explains why while the camera stays steady. I find this so much easier to follow. There are some other camera angles and closeups when needed to emphasize a technique, but they were very well integrated and easy to follow. I can't imagine the amount of work that went into filming and edtiting this project to get such a thorough and easily followed final DVD.
I...
Excellence As Described by Webster's Dictionary: Anything Dr. Yang Puts On Film
Just like ALL of the videos offered by YMAA, this video is exceptionally well done and at a running time of 293 minutes, yes you read that right, 293 minutes or just shy of 5 hours of quality information provided by Dr. Yang. I mean really, would you ever expect anything less!
Dr. Yang breaks down each and every move in this Tai Chi long form as he explains their individual martial arts application, as well as, the various health benefits associated with their practice. Like all exceptional martial arts instructors, be it Tai Chi, Karate, Taekwondo, or any other martial art, Dr. Yang not only instructs the student in how to correctly execute each individual move, but he also provides instruction on how not to practice the move by showing some of the more common mistakes made by students when learning and practicing the individual techniques. Another really nice feature is that each stage of the form is filmed from a variety of angles in order to better teach the techniques...
Great introduction to the Yang long form
I originally bought Dr. Yang's earlier video, Tai Chi Chuan, Classical Yang Style, which I still like for its qigong section and its introduction to the stances and steppings, but Yang Tai Chi for Beginners surpasses it by far when it comes to exposing the form. The disc is five hours long, and most of that is devoted to detailed demonstrations of each posture, from different angles, and with demonstrations of the martial applications of each posture. The video was shot outdoors in the mountains of Northern California, and the camera work is excellent. You can always see Dr. Yang's feet and hands (my biggest complaint about the earlier video was that some crucial hand movements were not shown because the camera was on the feet).
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