WCI Review - Jon Rister - Wing Chun: Strike, Control, Break

Without reading the breakdown, the viewer would be surprised to learn that this live, video seminar offering from Sifu Jon Rister is actually "Basic Concepts from Baat Cham Dao (Double Swords)" expanded to empty-hand application beyond the training and employment of the iconic weapons of the system.

The seminar is formatted into two chapters, which indicate that the subject was covered over two days, with a 90-minute runtime that goes from concept to correlation, to application to sharpen the audience's knowledge to bring the Baat Cham Dao to life beyond its practices and applications as solely a weapon.

Sifu Rister's demonstration will intrigue the novice but be especially relevant to the experienced practitioner as the seminar immediately dives into wielding the blades, understanding the "Twelve Gates", simple combinations, and their employment in engaging another. The breakdown of the aforementioned gates moves along quickly, covering them in a short time, which will prompt repeated use of the rewind button of your media player to take in the nuanced details of what is being played against empty-hand attacks, long pole/bo/weapon, or knife attacks.

Drilling is the prevalent platform, supplying one with a good serving of exercises in expanding the potential of the knives' empty-hand applications, with the support of the attendees serving up strikes to slash through the day. With attention to detail, one will notice that most of the counterattacks, the angles and footwork employed are derived from the Baat Cham Dao's form, which complements the fundamental concepts learned in the empty-hand forms but are unique to weapons. "The idea is to blend this with your basic structure," summarises Rister in tying up all learned aspects of the system that culminate at this point of training.

For added content, the counterattacks begin to evolve with the inclusion of Chin Na ("Joint Locking"), joint manipulation and grounding throws. Although those aspects are not inherently included in the knives form itself, Rister's expansion of possibilities with those actions are built upon the concepts of engagement learned from them. Day two of the seminar expands even further on would-be scenarios, with more of a continuous flow of movement to replicate the liveliness that a situation with a live attacker would entail—including some adaptation of short blades into Chi Sau to develop the same reaction-timing established without a weapon in the mix.

Like a real combat engagement, the video moves quickly from point to knifepoint with a lot to cut through, with plenty of meat left on the bone to keep the hungry practitioner's mind fed with content. No knives? No worries. This Eight Slash Knives video contains dozens of demonstrations that any level of practitioner can get a handle on for sharpening their understanding and skillsets. Its content will test the mettle of one's metal, mentally and physically, cutting deep into the content unique to this seminar video.

Jon Rister - Wing Chun: Strike, Control, Break
Language: English
Running Time: Approx. 86 min.
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