Chen Tai Chi is the original style of Taijiquan a set of martial arts techniques laid out in a continuing set of movements. It comes in two styles old frame and new frame. We currently teach mainly old frame but parts of new frame do appear in the Chen 18 Form which is a mixture of both old frame and new frame movements.
Chen 11 Form (Beginners Form)
The Chen 11 Form is ideal for beginners, it allows them to learn the most important movements out of all the Chen family forms in a shorter period of time than it would if they where learning the longer forms from scratch. This gives the beginner a complete form in the shortest time possible so that they can practice it and gain the benefits from it immediately. As these movements are used in all the other forms the knowledge is not waisted or discarded as the student advances.
Chen 18 Form (Mixed Lou Jia and Xin Jia)
The Chen 18 Form is a combination form consisting of movements from both old frame and new frame. It adds more movements to those learned in the Chen 11 Form and shows the student aspects of the new frame that they may consider to learn later.
Chen Laujia 39 Form (Three Section, Short Form)
As the Laujia 74 Form is quite a long form we took the decision to create a shorter form that would lead in to learning the longer form the easiest way to do this was to remove sections three, four and five and leave them for a later date and teach sections one, two and six. The last movements of section two and five are the same so both can easily flow into section six.
Chen Laujia 74 Form (Six Section, Long Form)
The Laujia 74 is the first form of two of the old frame system and gives a complete understanding of the flowing movements of Taijiquan. The second form when taught known as the Cannon Fist which is a much shorter form teaches more about energy release and maybe learned next. Note that sections one, two and six are the same as the Chen Laujia 39 Form above so all you will need to learn is section three, four and five.
