Contemporary Movement Arts Practices and Traditional Somatic Education

Abstract

This chapter examines some of the aspects of education in a few South Indian physical and performance traditions and discuss how they nurture an artist and aid their performance. Many of the ritual, folk, and classical performance traditions, martial art, body care systems, as well as social, religious, and medical practices of southern India share a few common concepts of body and principles of movement. It is believed that the vital energy or Vaayu or Praana is stored in the lower abdominal area (Naabhi Moola), where the movements originate from, then pass through the back and to the limbs only to return to the core-center to get revitalized so that it can initiate and engage with the next series of movements. In this “neuro-centric” notion of the body, energy is imagined to be transmitting through the nervous system (Naadi Vyuha) and goes to the limbs, the entire body, and beyond. The practitioner’s body is imagined as a microcosm and the space of practice or performance is also considered as a physical representation of the universe. Understanding of these concepts of body and principles of movement along with the ideas of space and time governing them have a vital role in decoding and deciphering the continuously emerging dynamic images in a physical performance. Many of these ideas, concepts, and principles are employed in the processes of education as emotional, temporal, and physical images for the student to conjure and embody. One of the important characteristics of the traditional knowledge systems is that the information on all aspects of the performance is categorized and classified into groups and subgroups. The chapter also explores how the education and practice at Attakkalari draw sustenance from these traditions as well as information from the global contemporary movement arts.