Ancient Indian temple architecture and sculptures exemplify the historical convergence of art, design, and movement practices like dance, martial arts and yoga. As Bharathanatyam dancer Rukmini Vijayakumar puts it, “Dancers and the human body have inspired sculptures and art from time immemorial. The past lacked the rigid boundaries between art forms, resulting in creations that blurred the lines between visual, performing arts, and design.” To recapture this dynamic artistic experience, we must strive for a similar homogeneity in contemporary practice today.
Silambam, a 3,000-year-old ancient weapon-based martial art with its origin traced to Tamil Nadu, has evolved over the years from a purely combative and psycho-physiological practice, to a sport, and performance art. The core elements of Silambam practice includes the practice, awareness, and control of the body, tools, line, balance, form, symmetry, focus, and pattern. These can also translate into key influences for visual art and design.
In Silambam, every movement is deliberate and part of a sequence, much like the individual lines that layer to create a complete image or a holistic design that solves a problem.
So how can the practice of Silambam inspire art and design and vice versa?
Visual art and Silambam both require practitioners to embrace discomfort and push through physical and creative boundaries, transforming persistence into graceful expression. Martial arts and art synonymously demand you to be present in the moment. In Silambam, every movement is deliberate and part of a sequence, much like the individual lines that layer to create a complete image or a holistic design that solves a problem.
Silambam practitioners constantly gauge balance, distance, and perspective, making spatial awareness a key component of the practice. This skill is invaluable in visual art and design. Spatial consciousness helps artists consider depth, perspective, and proportion within their compositions, making their art more immersive. Contemporary dancer Padmini Chettur states, “In a more contemporary context within which the pursuit of the dance itself has been to de-objectify the body, to somehow shift the focus away from beauty, symmetry and form… what we are left to think about is a translation of movement, principles of space, and time, and these are often abstract. The actions or lines that a dancer creates in space are in and of themselves both visual and sculptural.”
Another often overlooked existence of visual art in movement practice is score-making and notations. Dancers often use notations to create and develop choreographies, using drawing and diagrams composed of lines, shapes, and direction. These sketches are fascinating compositions themselves, and can be viewed as art in their own right. Similarly, a visual artist’s bodily movement and gesture often undermines the quality and character of the very line they are creating. Padmini shares, “I feel we need to start thinking of any movement practice both as ‘art’ and as inherently holding a design language. The moment we can see this, the potential to think across forms productively will happen.”Aishwarya Manivannan
Both Silambam and art are journeys of self-discovery and continuous learning. This shared mindset, often called the eternal student, drives the practitioner forward, inspiring them to push past challenges and embrace growth.
Looking back and moving forward, it is vital for students and practitioners across all art forms to witness, experience, and explore diverse media. It is only through this cross-experiencing of art, design, dance, music, theatre, literature, and the arts that a deconstruction of thought, reconstruction of idea, and freedom of imagination can be developed. Both Silambam and art are journeys of self-discovery and continuous learning. This shared mindset, often called the eternal student, drives the practitioner forward, inspiring them to push past challenges and embrace growth. The intersection of art and movement, exemplified by Silambam, offers a vibrant space for creative expression and culturally rich practices. This is a timeless conversation, a dance between ancient practice and modern expression, constantly evolving with each artistic encounter.
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