Taijiquan, Chen Style, 18 Movements Form

I have enjoyed practicing this short Chen Taijiquan form for the past seven years.  It was developed by Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei.

Chen Taijiquan Short 18 Movement Form Webpage   Bibliography, Links, Movements, Lists, Tips and Suggestions, UTube links.  Prepared by Mike Garofalo.

List of Movements of the Chen Taijiquan 18 Movement Short Form

Chen Taijiquan Old Frame First Form Laojia Yilu Webpage


Chen Style Tai Chi Essential 18 Postures with Patrick Martin.  Instructional DVD, 2 DVDs, 238 minutes.  Disk 1, 130 Minutes.  Jade Dragon Tai Chi International, Empty Circle Productions, 2008.  VSCL.  Patrick Martin is a student of Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei, and has been practicing and teaching Chen style Tai Chi for the last 20 years.  Detailed instructions for each movement sequence.  This DVD would be my first choice for an excellent instructional DVD on the Chen 18 Form.  However, this excellent DVD may be difficult to obtain. An out of focus UTube demostration that does not do justice to his teaching.


I favor instructional DVDs where: 1) there is a menu to sections of instruction, 2) there are detailed and complete verbal and physical instructions on how to do each section of the form, 3) all instructions are in English only, 3) there is a recap of each section with both side and back views of a performance of the part of the form explained in that section, 4) there is a summary complete performance of the form taught from multiple views.  A good instructor helps you learn the form, and they may not be a "Master" or "Grand Master."  A demonstration of the form, as you might find on UTube, is useful after you have learned to perform the Taijiquan or Qigong form on your own.  Learning from DVD with a Chinese speaker, with English subtitles, is difficult for me to follow; and, voice-over translation can get confusing.  I favor instructional DVDs from Ken Jullette, Jesse Tsao, Yang Jwing-Ming, Paul Lam, and Jiang Jian-ye ... among others.  


Here is a beautifully performed version of the Chen Style Taijiquan 18 Form by Sifu Mark Ditcher from Poole, England.  Fantastic!!   I take this interpretation of the Chen Taijiquan 18 Form as my standard.  I look at this video quite often to refresh my memory and help me improve.