I study traditional Chito Ryu at the yudansha level We see strong similarities between ourselves and other Okinawan styles such as Goju Ryu and Isshinryu One of those similarities is that the stances are indeed less deep and stylized Instead our stances are meant to allow fluid movement and dynamic turning movements Even those styles that employ deeper stances for kata will often employ shorter less deep stances as their fighting stance  There is a good reason for that There are of course exceptions with each style having a number of longer and deeper stances for specialized application  the question is what is the norm in that style B MacDonald