Tari - Part 1

I’m going to begin this week’s article by defining and explaining what the word Tari means

and what it refers to. I’m going to do this by sharing a quote from the very excellent book

Silat Tua The Malay Dance of Life written by Guru Zainal Abidin Shaikh Awab and Guru

Nigel Sutton. They write:

‘Tari – Lit. ‘dance’. In the silat context, tari refers to war dancing, which has many functions,

among them, body mechanics education, physical conditioning, sensitivity training (with a

partner), public performances and personal development (through conquering mental and

attitude blocks).’

Here’s how we understand and approach Tari in Silat Fitrah:

Tari is a martial dance that can be performed alone or with a partner, with a weapon or

without. It can be performed at any speed and with any attitude – from very slow to very fast, from prayerful gratitude to the focus and aggression of a hunter. Eventually it becomes a spontaneous, unplanned, free-flowing dance. (To see a great example of this, watch Guru

Eddie’s Tari both with golok and without in the trailer to his brilliant Elements training film,

Developing Great Footwork. – And if you haven’t yet bought it, I urge you to! Everything

starts with the feet, and the solo training drills Guru Eddie teaches for improving your

footwork are super-effective!)

Guru Eddie’s Tari highlights how our Malay martial dance enables us to practice self-control

and to express ourselves. Self-control is essential. After all, we choose to dance and we

choose how to express ourselves during that dance. Without self-control and the associated

state of awareness, we risk losing ourselves inappropriately within the dance (and, in the

worst-case scenario, possibly even running amok). However, whilst self-control is essential,

there can also be a sense of submission to the dance, so that our self-control is reflected

primarily by when we choose to start and choose to stop and by following any instructions or guidelines the Guru has given us.