January's goal: learn the steps - Gojushiho Dai

This is a new Shotokan karate kata for me, and one I'm actually looking forward to focusing on. No leaps. No jumps. Just large, focused movements that emphasize the contrast between slow and fast, and hard and soft. If I can ever encompass just 1/100th of the focus and control that Luca Vadesi demonstrates below, I'm a happy camper.

One of the early challenges (at least for me) is it's similarity to Gojushiho Sho. There are just too many similar movements and turns.  I know both well enough to "follow along" in class if we're going by the count, or at a slow pace. The only way I think I'm going to keep them straight is to learn them separately, and my own little memory trick to remember the start of each one: Gojushiho Sho ("show off") and Gojushiho Dai ("double hands").

See Luca Vadesi's excellent demonstration (link in YouTube)