I've got a Kempo friend and every time we see each other, he goes "so how's dance class?" It's all in good fun though. I used to take major offense to it. Kind of like when people used to bad mouth Nintendo I had to get on the defensive. Man have I grown.
Each one is a pretty long form, it would take forever to go through each movement, but I could explain a few of the odder ones. First off though, with the invention of fire arms war fare in China changed at the drop of hat. People were no longer on horse back anymore with spears and swords, not when they could get shot from a half mile away.
To preserve martial arts the government made certain styles into official sports. So each of my routines contains all the mandatory techniques and stances required of competition. So back during the cultural revolution in china that is when wushu started to really become as pretty as it is today. I forget how long ago, but maybe the 50's or earlier all the true blue masters were gathered by the government to make a standardized martial art. BUT NO FIGHTING WHAT SO EVER! Practitioners could only be graded like a gymnast would with points.
With that said, all the masters came to conclusions has to how punch should be. Where the chamber should be, etc. If you notice my posture I do my best to keep perfect posture at almost every given moment. When I kick and I have to hunch and bend everything to get my leg up, then it is not acceptable. So as time went on, the younger generation grew up on these rules. So with it being standardized it became prettier. But you can't tell people not to grow, that generation would always try to out do each other, by jumping higher, running faster, and doing their routines with a flare that modern life could only provide since they weren't practicing solely for health and survival.
Because of how pretty things got many traditionalists hated it! Too flashy to flowery is what they all say. But no one knew that's what would become of it, but following those guide lines that is what you see now. Today the professionals do nothing more than train these routines all the time like mad! Could you image sprinting for 45 minutes non stop? Or how about 100 different kicks, 100 times? We call it the 100 100s. They become so amazing physically but the sad thing is they can not spend time on application due to the fierceness of competition. The majority of them past Jet Li's generation, 90's up til now can barely fight or even know much of the history where the movement originated. Unless they train separately for fighting which we call sanshou, but of course many movements are omitted since you aren't allowed to kill.
I will give specifics soon. I didn't realize how much I typed. But as funny as it looks, those movements contain even grappling and throws. And when I get good I'll show you my eagle form, it has movements where literally I break legs and tear away throats. Of course eagle guys do wonderfully in routine point competitions because there is no way anyone would let them fight with such vicious movements unless it was on the street.
EDIT:
Stogi that's cool! I never seen myself in mid movement like that.
Oh and in the videos every time I did a cartwheel I was supposed to do it with no hands. I have been able to do it, but I completely lost the skill as I kept hurting my legs due to acting stupid and not warming up properly.