Martial arts melds with dance

THE beautiful forms, speed and creativity in Indonesian martial arts so fascinated Akiko Kitamura, an award-winning Japanese dancer/choreographer, that she spent several months learning them.

Subsequently, she fused what she learnt with contemporary choreography and a multimedia for a modern dance performance.

Her interpretation of the "Asian body" - one that fuses martial arts and dance across cultures - will be presented in two works in the upcoming NUS Arts Festival. One is part of a triple bill for the opening show, while the other premiered in Jakarta last year.

Musing on the similarities and differences between martial arts and dance, Kitamura notes how the purpose of the former is efficiency and the intent to win, while in dance, the beauty is often in the "showiness" and lacks a concrete purpose.

But both are sophisticated and about communication between bodies - so they're very similar in that sense. In Japan, the distinctions between martial arts and dance are, in fact, quite blurred, she says.

"There are very similar movements in karate and kabuki, for example, and 'laido' which uses the sword, which is now very popular in Japan as a way to cultivate calmness, good balance and beautiful form."

In Okinawa, traditional karate also has very similar forms with their traditional dance.

"But what's interesting is the differences in the process when the people try to develop the technique and expression," she shares, and the development of martial arts strategy is a great way to look at choreography and dance technique as well. "Sometimes it is as if they are solving mathematics and calculating energy flow, and from this, a new 'vocabulary' will emerge. It's very creative, like dance," shares Kitamura.

"In Perisai Diri, the basic concept is self-defence and the idea is to use the opponent's energy to win - which gave me inspiration to create dance movements out of that," she describes.

Kitamura was also fascinated with Sundanese Pencak silat like Panglipur and Minangkabau silat. "Silat has a very clear concept of self-defence and each party develops its own fighting strategy. But for them, to win is sometimes to continue to fight rather than injuring the opponent - and that thinking is fascinating."

Choreographing contemporary dance, for Kitamura, has become a way to harness that energy flow between bodies - derived from what she's observed in silat. "It's also a good experience to work with the dancers who have traditional techniques," she adds.

Her dance, To Belong - Cyclonicdream, considers how the spirit and the body are impacted by science and technology.

It was conceptualised by Kitamura in collaboration with leading Indonesian artists, including dramaturg/co-director Yudi Ahmad Tajudin (artistic director, Teater Garasi in Yogyakarta), and a team of Japanese artists. The dance production will have a narrative, and be presented with elements of wayang kulit, along with inspirations of aikido and jujutsu, besides silat. For the NUS performance, there will be changes in the presentation and staging.

Japanese contemporary dance has few roots in Japanese traditional dance, except perhaps Butoh, but in the true spirit of contemporary art which is borderless, Kitamura used traditional Indonesian martial arts to make something new out of the old.

uihoon@sph.com.sg