This method of stepping has been referenced in a couple of threads here, but I’m not familiar with it. I think I have an idea, but I was wondering if anyone could help me with a nice diagram, video reference or clear description of “unicorn stepping.” Thanks.
simple - cross, cross, horse :).
found in CLF and most southern styles.
cross step back or forward?
judge it sounds like the stepping in the female immortal where your beaking and ridgehanding while cross stepping and then end in the horse stance…
lung the spot on judges clip of the kwan dow is most certainly not a unicorn step.
judge did the form almost exactly as i do with only a couple minor differences. with such a long and heavy weapon taking your stance down into a deep horse is just not useful.
there are times when that form gets some deep bow stances but not horse.
so that debate is done lol
Unicorn Stepping
This stance is formed by taking a step forward and crossing one leg infront of the other by creating a 90 degree angel while turning the waist and squatting down.
When in this stance the front foot is flat on the floor while the heel of the back foot is raised of the floor leaving the ball of this foot touching the ground.
image is a drawing of the unicorn step.
Peace,TWS
Thanks. It’s close to what I imagined it to be, but I wanted to make sure.
Nope that’s not the unicorn step in the picture of Lam Sai Wing. That’s kau mah or twisted horse aka dragon stance. The unicorn step is two succesive kau mah’s. Stepping in one direction and then the totally opposite direction.
actually that IS the unicorn step. the stepping is similar to twisting horse,however, the unicorn stepping as i understand it is an evasive move. twisting horse’s posture is closer to the ground. TWS
this is Nau Ma, see pic below.
http://www.hungkuen.net/training-basicstances.htm Site i referenced. i have done these stances in the form work that i do now so i know what i am talking about. maybe you have a different way of doing the stances but this is essentially how i have been doing them.
It is my understanding that when you say “unicorn stepping” as opposed to unicorn step then you are refering to the sequence commonly seen in Hung Kuen when doing butterfly palm, where you step into unicorn stance one way, then unicorn stance in the opposite direction, followed with a horse or bow step.
As performed (with a skip) at 3:04 in this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKUrtTFdo_Q&mode=related&search=
and at 0:27 in this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxM40O6r4HI&mode=related&search=
'm familiar with that type of stepping but I’ve never heard it referred to as Unicorn Stepping. But then I was never taught the names of a lot of the stuff I learned.
A lot of peeps mistake that for Drunken. It’s a cross step and you see it a lot in Wah Lum.
[QUOTE=The Willow Sword;705887]actually that IS the unicorn step. the stepping is similar to twisting horse,however, the unicorn stepping as i understand it is an evasive move. twisting horse’s posture is closer to the ground. TWS
this is Nau Ma, see pic below.
http://www.hungkuen.net/training-basicstances.htm Site i referenced. i have done these stances in the form work that i do now so i know what i am talking about. maybe you have a different way of doing the stances but this is essentially how i have been doing them.[/QUOTE]
It’s not what I call it, it’s how it’s commonly known. The picture of Lam Sai Wing is a “stance” not a “step”, known universally as kau mah or twisted horse or some such variation of.
The unicorn step or unicorn stepping is a Southern Kung Fu way of moving from side to side in kau mah. The picture of Lam Sai Wing is probably showing him doing part of the unicorn stepping and the author inadvertently labeled this as a “stance” which unicorn step/stepping is NOT.
Funny how names differ from style to style. I always called the stepping most of you are referring to as crab walking. In the Chang Chuan I learned from Dr. Yang If you twisted from horse stance to cross leg stance then we called it sitting on cross legs but if you stepped into that position we called it unicorn stance.
What I’m really curious about is how that name came about? If anyone has seen the Kei Lun/Chi Lin that is similar to the Mo Si you don’t typically see that stepping at least as my CLF school performed it.
FP
[QUOTE=shuaichiao;705910]Funny how names differ from style to style. I always called the stepping most of you are referring to as crab walking. In the Chang Chuan I learned from Dr. Yang If you twisted from horse stance to cross leg stance then we called it sitting on cross legs but if you stepped into that position we called it unicorn stance.[/QUOTE]
Northern kung fu has its own vocabulary, some different some similar.
Also I think it is important to distinguish between bo/bu (step) and ma (horse ie stance) or this can lead to a lot of confusion. The step is the action where as ma is the final static position.
In other words, there is more than one kind of step that can lead you to the final position.
I’ve always referred to this step as either a cross-step or dragon walk. I had not heard of a unicorn step until this forum.
This is why transliterated terms don’t help. lol
It’s a cross step.
man, all the time wading in the minutia to figure out what “unicorm stepping” is.
[QUOTE=David Jamieson;705927]
man, all the time wading in the minutia to figure out what “unicorm stepping” is.[/QUOTE]
Now hold on a second…unicorm stepping and unicorn stepping are entirely different. In the unicorm step the pinky toe points south east in the the unicorn step its south west.
FP
[QUOTE=Ben Gash;705897]
As performed (with a skip) at 3:04 in this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKUrtTFdo_Q&mode=related&search=
and at 0:27 in this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxM40O6r4HI&mode=related&search=[/QUOTE]
Yep, exactly…
You know, in my Choy Li Fut and various northern styles, there’s a differentiation between Twist horse (which by definition twists), and those where you step into it without twisting. What is sometimes described as Unicorn stance (and I have used this meaning in my previous post) refers to a cross stance where the “flat” foot passes across the “tiptoe” foot. In Choy Li Fut this has the highly PC name of cripple horse :rolleyes: Where the “tiptoe” foot moves behind the “flat” foot it is commonly known as stealing step/horse.
Thest three stances are very similar but have diferent functions, the Kai Lin bouh (unicorn stance), Nau mah (cross stance), and Tau bouh (stealing step).