Can you tell which movements are from dance, and which are from martial arts?

Two Wu: The Profound Connection Between Dance and Martial Arts

“Would you like to wu with me?”

“That depends on what kind of wu you mean!”

For thousands of years of Chinese civilization, dance and martial arts have had almost the same name. That’s because the Chinese characters for dance (舞) and martial arts (武) are both pronounced wǔ.

The differences in how the characters are written spell out the differences in their meanings. When you take apart the character for the wǔ (武) that means martial arts, the right side resembles the character gē (戈), which represents a dagger axe, while the left is the component zhǐ (止) means to stop. Thus, this character may be interpreted as meaning stopping an opponent’s attack, or perhaps wielding the weapon (starting and stopping its motion) in the most effective and powerful way.

On the other hand, the intricate character for the wǔ (舞) that means dance started from a pictogram of a person with arms that, over time, evolved to have legs as well.

But the connection goes deeper than just the name. At some point you have probably seen legendary kung fu masters flashing fists of fury as they swoosh through the air, performing spectacular techniques with nature-themed names (“the butterfly,” “the lotus kick,” “the tornado”). Did you know that these movements are also found in Chinese dance?

BY SPONSORED CONTENT, THE EPOCH TIMES

February 26, 2019 Updated: February 26, 2019