Kembangan

The Flower Dance of Indonesia

I have a real love-hate relationship with forms in martial arts. I don't have a problem with solo work per se, but I do feel that prescribed forms worked repetitiously ad nauseum don't do much to promote growth in training. That's not to say they have nothing to teach, but...How many of you still need that damn song to remember your ABC's? I see forms in a similar way, necessary to point but you need another point to progress to, or they tend to be stagnant.

People train forms for different reasons, depending on the style they prefer, and the national birthplace of the style will usually reflect a kind of blanket tempo that the forms' are worked at. I think most will agree that, whatever else they represent, forms are a collection of techniques indigenous to the style of origin, strung together in a particular order to reflect different variations, combinations, speeds and timing. I don't need forms to learn technique. I don't believe realistic technique can be qualified by so blunt a tool as "forms" in the martial arts. My reasoning is this:

Empty air doesn't attack me.

Empty air isn't armed.

Empty air gives no feedback in positioning, timing, sensitivity. For me, learning technique and the application of it is all about partner training.

"Structure" - "Posture" - "Rooting" - "Base"

These terms are bandied about as the all-important aspects of ANY martial art. You know what? They are important, no denying that. But the idea of a structure that promotes rooting in your stance over moving with balance is usually one that carries a kind of subliminal message with it, something like: "In this stance, you will be able to absorb ANYTHING if you can only root deep enough". It's like they want you to just stand there & see how much incoming force you can take. Well, to seven hells with that, I wanna get out of the way! But you can see many practitioners searching for that so-elusive secret to tapping into the energy of the earth's core when they should be looking at their lack of footwork.

But I was speaking of forms. As I get older, I see much wisdom in the idea of forms being presented in a dance structure instead of a kata-like structure. Dance is perfect for training balance in motion, and kembangan is a martial dance. Referencing my points above, I appreciate the fluidity Kembangan promotes, as well as the freedom to change, rearrange, adopt and adapt different techniques and rhythms to suit the individual training it.

Its easy to attain balance in stillness, most martial arts capitalize on this with sinking and rooting being the only options (Wing Chun & Karate come to mind). You see it time and again in the forms of other styles; that kind of "Sink-Root-Step-Repeat" staccato rhythm. Kembangan is called a dance for a reason, it is at once fluid and meticulous in that fluidity. A skilled pesilat has balance in MOTION, as well as rooting and stancework. He can lurch, jump, twist, drop, stand erect, post on one leg & return to a harimau position without once losing his balance. But why is this important? What does it have to do with fighting?

That's not something that can be answered in the same two-sentence interrogative that it was asked, there are too many factors to consider to brush it off with a simple answer. Silat isn't a cookie cutter art, it looks different as night and day even between two practitioners of the same style.

First of all, balance is needed before you can successfully attack or defend ANYTHING. Balance in motion is the critical deciding factor in a fight between a strong opponent and a weaker one. If you are constantly trying to regain your footing or get a purchase on the incoming attack, you will never be able to defend let alone retaliate. Many Silat techniques require multiple target spreads to make them work, how will you do this if you are always imbalanced at close range with the opponent?

Remember, kembangan (like all other forms in the martial arts) doesn't teach you how to actually FIGHT, although there are fighting techniques and motions included in the dance. It doesn't teach you how to enter on a punch, how to read your opponent's timing, when its time to switch from sapu dalam to sapu luar. It doesn't teach you trapping.

But what it does teach you is to move fluidly to a rhythm while lurching and jumping from one are to the next gracefully without losing your balance or your tempo. It teaches you FLOW at the basic level. You will finds many of the same techniques in your kembangan that also exist in your Jurus, but with a wider range of motion (bigger circling arms, stances are wider). This is not a mistake, it is there to ingrain certain balance principles in your body's development. It is also there to help you promote flow. That wide range of motion will serve you well in a fight, allowing you to move comfortably and skillfully at your discretion, and not hindered by a limited motion range, had you only trained the Jurus. You can move at a quarter, half, or the entire range of motion at your disposal, because you already do it in kembangan. The Jurus give you a more precise key to EXACT motion, the Kembangan gives you a key to GENERAL motion. I usually describe it like this:

1: Jurus give you the TECHNIQUE tool.
2: Buah (or Sambuts) give you the APPLICATIVE tool.
3: Kembangan gives you the MOTION tool.

Below is a Kembangan video of me shot during my last visit to Indonesia. I cut out some parts in the middle, because the form itself is almost 10 minutes long. But this should give you an idea of the varying tempos and styles that are contained in a single Kembangan.

Also; I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a good representative of flower dancing. This one in particular is a real alligator, and you will see that I blew it in a few places, especially the last section (Sera). Don't think I don't know this. I only had a couple of weeks to learn three Kembangans at once, combine them with the other 5 I knew & perform them all as one. On camera. I think I can be granted a little latitude here.

I'll post some of my teacher later, and you can get a really good comparison between an untalented white boy and an Indonesian Silat master.