Katus Excerpt

The following is an excerpt from a letter written by Jean Katus (Ft. Yates, ND) in response to a flyer she received from a teacher sponsoring a TCC event:

“Justin originated the movements to be done in a particular way. They were not put together, willy-nilly so any teacher could change them as he or she sees fit. To use Justin’s own analogy, when an artists plays Beethoven or Mozart, he or she plays the notes those composers wrote, even though his or her personal style may use the notes slightly differently.

The same is true of T’ai Chi Chih: as teachers and students, our task is to emulate the movements as closely to what the originator intended as we can, given the slight differences all of us have in body type, ability, and personal style. In other words, we are not to change the notes.”