In history we know that many of those who were warriors....in the time of oppression hid or masked their warrior skills by way of dance. African slaves did it with capoeira, and with many other styles as well. Okinawans did it with karate and kobudo. There are also kung-fu techniques hidden in some chinese dances. My question is what made dance so important and effective....what is the connection between martial arts and dance arts? Two arts that are so different in nature Yet so close to eachother that it can be used to mask one another. Other than just body movement....what is the relation? How deep and how far back does it actually go?
There is a thread in progress by some interested 'cross-trainers' between MA and dance - may be worth a look. http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22477&highlight=ballet I'm not sure how much I agree with your statement "Two arts that are so different in nature ", as they both depend completely about getting your body to do exactly what YOU want. The only main difference is the purpose for which the body is moving. I attended a short course in Chinese Physical Culture (CPC), which was specifically advertised as NOT a martial art. It concentrated on movement and dance, but as I was learning Tang Soo Do in parallel, I could tie both 'arts' together without stretching my brain at all. Just my 2-peneth.
MA and Dance in Chinese culture is closely related as its part of our culture. We are however not the leading Ma community, just the most stereotyped I guess. As other countries developed dancing styles such as tap, foxtrot, waltz,tango etc.. the Chinese had Chinese Opera, which is 'floor-gymnastics' mixed with acting, similar to Ballet and..well...Opera (cept some critics go nuts if you dont take the exact amount of steps during a dialogue) with some spin offs such as silk twirling, there are more but I dont know the names. Many other MAs can be said to have 'dancing' moves and vice versa. Its basically just having your body move in certain ways to obtain your goals.
They're pretty closely related in the type of attributes involved. You need rhythm, coordination, the ability to synch up with the actions of another, footwork, etc. Besides, part of the beauty of it is that dance is regarded as harmless. That's kinda the rub when you're trying to do something under the nose of an occupying force. Whatever you're doing has to look harmless. The filipino and probably indonesian arts also fall into that category by the way. Stuart
