We left off with Waving Hands (da gong quan xiao gong quan) and four quick bamboo steps. On the last step, we pivot on the right foot to the right, to face back in the other direction. Circle the right arm out and around on the pivot, so the right hand is at the left shoulder. The left arm follows, circling across the body and down to the side.

Position after the turn

The frame above is at the 2:02 mark in the video by Master Chen Bing.  Master Bing has a website, by the way, www.chenbing.org. You can study with his student in Los Angeles, if you can’t get to Master Bing’s school in Chen Village.

After the turn, advance three more bamboo steps, turn around and punch. As best I can tell, the four bamboo steps to the right are Yu Nu Chuan Shuo–Fair Lady Works the Shuttle– and the three steps back to the left are Dao Qi Long–Riding the Dragon Backwards.

The four bamboo steps right are led with the right foot; the three bamboo steps back to the left are led with the left foot. The turn for the punch is to the right on the ball of the left foot. He sets his feet for the punch right-left. The turn is propelled (partly) by the switch of the hands from the position in the picture above to the position for the punch (right hand chambered, left reaching out, as in the picture below).

You can click on the settings icon (looks like a gear) in the lower right-hand corner of the video screen and set the speed of the video to .25 for slow motion playback. You can see the footwork from 1:58 to 2:03 for the bamboo steps and turns in this section of the form. Below, he has just pivoted on the left foot, after riding the dragon backwards, and and landed right-left to set up for the punch.

Landing right-left for the punch.

The punch is Yan Shou Gong Quan. (I am going by the list of names on the Chicago website; the Absolute Tai Chi list is different, which is confusing.)

Next: Wrapping Firecrackers. Guo Bian Pao. We’ve advanced about 7 seconds, and we’re only about halfway through the second section of the form.