Pencak Silat – Linguistically, Pencak Silat is often cluttered together as a single entity, which is ‘a performance (skill) of self-defence which employs the ability to defend oneself, fend off an attack, and eventually attack the enemy, with or without weapons’. (Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia) However, local pencak silat teachers usually explain that the two words must be understood as separate; Pencak is the artistic aspect of the form and can be enjoyed as entertainment while Silat is the actual martial art of self-defence and attack techniques, which may not be performed in public. (Maryono, 2002:4) Although, the boundaries have since blurred with the popularity it now enjoys in competitions such as the Southeast Asian Games, where one may argue that it is both unarmed combat and a performance and sport for spectators and television audiences. [insert footage link: (cam 1 tape 1) 00:21:57.00 – 00:24:18.00]

The multifariousness and interculturalism of pencak silat cannot be avoided since the martial art is handed down by various teachers who give their own creative input (often an acculturation of styles found within their own natural surroundings). (Maryono, 2002: 11-12) Hence, we can find geographical variations of Pencak Silat styles and the different styles spread across a large region such as the Indonesian Archipelago. At this point, I would like to remind you here and in other annotations that the general categorization of Asian art forms must not be a linguistic hindrance to an understanding of the diversity and intercultural nature of art forms, which is almost impossible to accurately track down their origins. Likewise, the creativity that teachers input into the form makes it even more complicated in a historical sketching of styles. Nevertheless, it is safe to say that the pencak silat have always had acculturation by incorporating other available techniques such as Chinese martial arts and local ceremonial dance into various threads of development. At this point, it is then interesting to draw your attention to Yamazaki, who incorporates each of the five main players’ (Ikeda, Dichte, Reza, Klunchun and Dibia) signature gestures into his choreography, where at one point, his movement slips into Dichte’s Taichi gestures (executed during her songs) before he goes into Reza’s Pencak Silat dance gestures. [insert footage link: (cam 1 tape 3) 00:22:45.00 – 00:25:20.00 ] That changing of movements is analogous to a concise (abeit constructed) summary of the process of acculturation of Pencak Silat (Taichi and Pencak Silat), in that he shows the possible links and influences martial arts and dance have on each other, albeit a constructed one; and the process is also very much about the personal creativity of the teacher and choreographer. To the untrained eye, the movement of Yamazaki can shift from graceful to rough and edged, rather than an acknowledgement of different dance styles. The gestural references made to the earlier dance movements may help to inform us but in my opinion, the key understanding we should derive from here are about differences more than homogeneity, and how the differences (sources) encounter each other and interact in the context of a performance.

References

Maryono, O’Ong, Pencak silat in the Indonesian archipelago. Yogyakarta, Indonesia : Yayasan Galang, 2002.