Dance and the Martial Arts

Dance---one of the most sensuous pathways of expressing beauty. A true determinant of the science of aesthetics, and one of great demand-on the performer, the teacher, the aficionado—or even the common viewer. A poetic expression made concrete, enriched by fluidity, unfettered, yet bound by the rigors of mathematical precision in its technicality. From time immemorial, dance has been a mode of self expression, also a performing art par excellence, and cherished by the refined and the sophisticated, even though previously this art-form was neither deemed refined nor cultured –but always, it had been enormously enjoyed, by all and sundry. The acrobats of Khitai, the jongleurs of medieval Europe, the Nats of ancient India—for eons, they had been sources of great entertainment. In some cases, they represented highly philosophical sets of belief—the Devdasis, for instance, were, without a doubt, a genus greatly misused by the then ruling class and intelligentsia—but the basis of this deplorable practice was definitely religious; at other instances, they were simply professional entertainers—poor people who had but no other vocation, and no other way to survive! But through the ages, this branch of the performing arts had reached a level of great refinement, paralleled by no other, save music perhaps.







The point of discussion here is not the aesthetic aspects of dance as an art form. The debate, if it may so be termed, is about dance being used through the ages as a medium to hide and subvert martial crafts which served the purpose of tools of survival, and methods of preparing defenses against invading forces of alien nature, and oppression and if dance had often originated from martial roots, and share common ancestors with the martial arts as we see them today. The art forms chosen are a little diverse, and the readers of this article are requested to bear with the stale authorship, for a while. This mode, using dance to cloak a martial art, has been popular all over the world, from the Philippines, to Brazil, to China, to the United States, to India-through the ages. Specific arts, from diverse socio-cultural and racial backdrops shall be discussed here to illustrate the point.



To begin with, one may choose the Philippines. The arts in questions are Arnis di Mano, and Escrima, but especially, the first. It is noteworthy to remember that a very combat effective, diverse and composite martial form exists in the Philippines, called Kali. This system of warfare deals with hand-to-hand combat exercises, to using a wavy bladed dagger called in tagalong as “Kris” ( a similar word exists in Indian languages, even Bengali—the word being “kirich”), to using swords, other knives, techniques of joint-manipulations, locks, chokes, low and high kicks, and use of many a diversified and uncommon weapon, even a garrote. But Arnis di Mano (translable as “harness of the hand”), is a dance form, to which Indians of the current age, versed in such cultural outbursts like “Dandia”, shall find much similarity. Now, Arnis di Mano in performance is certainly a pleasant visual exercise to all aficionados of dance, and the underlying techniques, which deal with lethal strikes using the same rattan sticks would not be apparent to them until and unless they are informed of that aspect, or have a very acute sense of observation, not to mention training in either a martial art, or such specified disciplines as military history! It was developed, an offshoot of Kali, in the times of the Spanish conquistadores, and practiced in public view, even though any military or martial discipline was banned to islanders, by decree. Even today, only when one sees a specific aspect of Arnis, called Espada y Daga (Sword and Knife), is one absolutely convinced that it is a martial art in guise of a dance, and NOT vice versa! Escrima, a related and similar looking art, also using rattan sticks, is simply Spanish for “fencing”, the sport, so to say, and was deemed safe by the conquerors, since the practice was not wide spread, and secondly, they were, after all, performing with sticks—and that too with flexible wood or bamboo sticks—mere “playthings” in comparison to swords, which They carried. They could not begin to gauge the degree of damage those could possibly do, and thus the art flourished, and survived. Such it was in Philippines.





Next, we move to Brazil. The art in question is actually almost a dance-form, called Capoeira. The form is highly acrobatic, with coordinated and often highly choreographed sets of movements covering kicks. It is a kick based art, and the pyrotechnical displays of spinning, leaping and flying kicks are visually stunning indeed, and the practitioners have to undergo rigorous acrobatic training and stamina exercises to perform the art of Capoeira. This choreographed “dance form” has a dark past. It was a martial craft practiced by slaves, who were forbidden ALL martiality. It was performed to the leisure of the masters, usually of Portuguese descent , but it is reported that Masters used to perform the stunningly deadly kicks with razor-blade implanted special boots, and matches performed in alleys and slums would often have decisive, if lethal results! But once again, we see dance being used to cloak a purpose hardly pertaining to entertainment! The attempt of a class oppressed, and a dance form relating to their efforts at freedom—today we see the acrobatic pyrotechniques, often non-conscious of the pain that went into the expression that we see from an aesthete’s viewpoint today.



In the United States of America many a research has been done into the socio-cultural aspects, which are quite diverse, on the race of indigenous people one terms as the Red Indians, or the Innuit. Anthropologists are familiar with the fact that before a hunt, war, even to bring down rain, the shamans (or medicine-men) led the able bodied warriors, or braves in ritualistic dances which almost always had very martial connotations—they often served to build up a mass hysteria and/or collectively increase adrenalin rushes to ensure combative-effectiveness and functional awareness in the braves. The Red Indians had their own wrestling too, like White Cloud Tether Wrestling, so they were not exactly unable to differentiate between dance and the martial crafts; what we see here is a dance itself acquiring all the aspects of a martial art.







In China, in the then Empires of Sung and Khitai, we come across a highly acrobatic martial form that is SOLELY used as a form of entertainment. The name of the form is Chang Chuan, and forms an essential aspect of Wu Shu, the comprehensive generic term for martial art forms of China. The art is highly acrobatic, and bespeaks more of co-ordinated movements and choreography than combat effectiveness, but the essential martiality alongwith the suppleness necessary to perform the same in exactitude deems it a highly effective art indeed, especially to anyone who is oriented thus. To draw a long story short, even though it survives almost solely to depict the Monkey King Sun Wu K’ung’s antics in productions of Wu Zheng En’s “Journey to the West” and suchlike; one ought to remember that it was essentially an art that NOT ONLY served the function of entertainment, but also served as a tool of defense to the wandering repertories. Such it was in China. In general, dance was NOT used as a cloaking device, but then dance itself had become a tool of combat, or vice-versa! Secondly, Tai Chi Chuan, pronounced as Taijiquan, is treated as an excellent mode of training a body in correct breathing and posturing, and for its balletic grace is often used for supplementary training by aspirants and trainees of western ballet. It looks like a set of exercises done with great grace and precision, and many a western practitioner is wholly unaware of its martial application.



The arts of Lua in Hawaii and Bando in Burma may also have deserved mention, but they are, even though highly ornate, generally pure-form martial arts, and not dance forms—even though, in their ornamentation they are almost at par with Wu Shu.



Now we come to India, a land rich in socio-anthropological traditions, where the subject of discussion has reached fruition in many a format. To discuss in detail, we require experts in both the fields, which is rare, even though many masters of one discipline often dabble in the other. To make the discussion coherent, we have chose certain specific dance/ martial art forms—prevalent in Manipur, Bengal, Orissa, and Kerala—three provinces which are renowned for a martial history.



Manipur is famed for a style of dance called Manipuri— a style which by Rabindranath Tagore was adopted to expound any an aspect of his theatre. Manipur is also famed for a martial art form called Thang-ta, an art based on highly acrobatic jumps, skips, rolls, kicks and use of intricate striking techniques using double swords. It is quite deadly in application, in spite of the fact that it looks rather beautiful in performance. In case of an exponent of Manipuri, a dancer of depth-in their own art, that is-Thang-ta is a “related discipline”, it is an acquisition and added advantage if learnt, since many an indigenous choreographic composition requires direct usage of Thang-ta. When one observes the ease with which a Thang-ta master contributes to successful and often exemplary performance of the same composition, one often tends to think that the dance and the martial art form may have originated from a common form of expression. Manipuri is a highly vigorous dance form, and even free of Thang-ta, can seem highly martial a display, so the subject deserves serious research by interested anthropologists/performing artists/ historians. But the similarities are striking, indeed.





Next we go to Kerala. The most composite martial in all the world, at par with Wu Shu, Kali and Ninjutsu, and highly effective, is extant in Kerala. It is called Kalaripayattu, and is still deemed by the practitioners of diverse martial as one of the most complete and most coherently deadly. In Kerala exists a dance form, which is very martial in portrayal—it generally deals with celestial battles and destruction of demons, and is called Kathakali. To a trained observer, the basic stances of Verumkai or the unarmed combat aspect of Kalaripayattu, and the more martial displays of Kathakali are often very similar to the sight, and even in application. Also, the training program adopted for training the aspirants/ students of BOTH the disciplines are the same, as can be determined by questioning exponents/masters of the disciplines.



Next, we go to Orissa. The art in question is called Chhou, and have confused its viewers for quite a while as to whether it is indeed simply a dance or actually a martial art form in all totality. The art comprises of the performers enacting very intricate patterns with actual live swords and shields, leaping and demonstrating cuts and postures that could have been-----if one were to strip it of the performance vis-à-vis entertainment value-----quite violent , to say the least. The only aspect of it that points towards this art being a martial art more so than simply a dance form is this: until recently, Chhou was performed solely by men. This gender bias has ceased with one or two of its exponents, recently, coming from the ranks of women. The point is that Orissa was a generally male-dominated society, especially among the classes from which the performers of this specific art came from, and had this been a martial art form, then it would seem logical that the women, not being deemed warriors in their own rights sociologically, were made exempt from learning the art, and later, it became taboo. This is surmise, purely, but may open up avenues for research by persons interested.





Finally, we come to Bengal. The two folk dances in perspective here are respectively called Dhali and Raibenshe (in case of the last one mentioned here, the ‘n’ assumes a nasal tone, and is not pronounced in English but rather a French manner).





Dhali was a dance performed by lower caste people of Bengal called Bagdis, who were professional guardsmen of the feudal lords of the-then Bengal, and were trained in the use of sticks, staves, daggers, short swords, and Sharki, or small wooden spears with iron tips used somewhat like western rapiers, in thrusts fashion. It was a lethal ‘silent’ weapon, and unlike a rapier, had greater versatility in usage, since alongwith thrusting, it could be used to parry sticks, swords and spears. Usually used in assassinations and by brigands and highwaymen (a vocation adopted as alternate profession by the same castes), this weapon was deemed illegal by country lords, who secretly patronized the practice of the same by their own guardsmen. Now Dhali is a ritualized and highly choreographed display of an exponent of this weapon, and a Dhal or shield. It is a ‘dance’ which demonstrates the finer points of the use of Sharkis in accordance with the shields. The Dhali also was the name of the sect , of people who would accompany as guardsmen, and would carry their ‘spears’ tied- hidden beneath, actually- the Dhals, or shields hung over their backs.



The Raibenshe was a similar “dance” form, often performed by the SAME sects, only this was the display of the acrobatics of a quarterstaff master- ‘raibansh ’being the type of bamboo used to make the staves.



Now, we attempt a conclusion. In the eons forgotten man had a harsher life than what we perceive today. The dance to them had more than entertainment value; it was simply a tool of adrenalin enhancement in preparation of some act of physical hardship. The martial arts, on the hand , was a ‘tool’ cultivated and created by man, an essentially weak animal , somatically speaking to ward of aggression from the same and diverse species and sometimes- to get food ( as archery and the use of spear possibly originated as). They both originated at a time when physical activity was a necessity of greater magnitude than the current era, and have evolved into finer forms since. We see the development of Dance through the ages, but one must note that BOTH dances and martial forms originated when communes (it was too early for urbanization) were coming into being. But the form, the patterns, the depictions in case of dances, and the solo forms in case of the martial arts (called kata in the Japanese martial arts, and kuen in the Chinese ones)—they seem so very similar to the layman and the critic alike, that one tends to wonder whether they originated as a derivation from any one of the two, or, at the least, share common ancestors. The subject is an interesting one for scholars and practitioner-historians alike, and may deem interesting results if any research is conducted.