Speech given by Brandy Leary at IMPACT's (Indian Martial and Performance Art Collective of Toronto) first Martial Arts as Philosophy Symposium in partnership with the University of Toronto in October of 2010.

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for Coming and thank you to Gita for inviting myself and my Company to participate in this inaugural Symposium.

My name is Brandy Leary and I am a Toronto based choreographer and performer and the Artistic Director of  the Anandam DanceTheatre.

My presentation today is part performance and part discussion around the topic of Kalarippayattu as a language for Contemporary Choreography.  In my use of  the term "Contemporary Choreography" I am  not making a distinction between an eastern or western dance practice or lineage. Quite often in Toronto dance culture the term Contemporary in relation to  Dance is used to refer to modern western techniques where in this discussion I am looking at it from a broader and more inclusive perspective to include  artists who are working to re examine their forms (whatever background that may be) in a context that is relevant to the present be it in subject, composition or aesthetic.

In referring to Kalarippayattu as a language I am approaching the form from the perspective that it is a defined physical vocabulary that has specific structures, an evolutionary development and set compositions that exist in a sense of dialogue or with the inherent potential to create one.

I would like to say from the onset, and I know it will make all of my teachers happy to hear this, that Kalarippayattu is not a dance. This is absolutely true.  It is a martial art from the state of kerala in the southern part of India and is said to be one of the oldest fighting systems still in current practice. Kalarippayattu is a fully developed martial art that involves physical exercises and body conditioning for strength, co ordination, flexibility, spatial orientation, balance, reflexes, internal and external energetic flow and  spiritual refection  as well as numerous weapon systems and a distinctly detailed and highly evolved system for treating injury and healing the body.

The mid to late 20th century has not only seen a resurgence in the practice of Kalarippayattu as a martial system both in Kerala and outside of India but also in the transference of the Kalarippayattu language and techniques into modern and contemporary performance practices both as a performative language and as a method for the training of artists. 

The work of Polish theatre innovator Jerzy Grotoski drew on exercises drawn from Kalai, Kalatkal and yoga to train his actors to reach deeper states of integrated physical and energetic presence which he applied to his avant guarde theatre work that has become a hallmark of experimental technique in western theatrical practice filtering into both contemporary dance and theatre perspectives.

The work of  the late  controversial contemporary Indian  Choreographer Chandralekha was seminal in bringing Kalarippayattu into the realm of dance and choreography in the 20th/21st century.  She created many pieces that integrated the Kalari vocabulary and she drew on the training systems in the form as a complement  to the traditional dance vocabulary of Bharat Natayam that her dancers were schooled in.

In current contemporary practice for performer training in India Kalarippayattu is standard issue.   In Europe, theatre director Philip Zarilli  has been a pioneer in exploring and experimenting with the application of Kalarippayattu as a vehicle for  performer training through cross disciplinary approaches to embodiment techniques that harness the forms physcho physical methods in the context of  performance. These varied examples and applications demonstrates that this practice, wither in an eastern or western scenario offers the artist more benefits then just flexibility, strength and alternative body training. It can  open up new perspectives and inquiries into the potential of the moving body, re contextualize space and present alternative dialogues on eastern and western performance practices.

I have been working with this language in traditional training scenarios both in India and Canada for the past six years.  I draw upon it as a fertile resource for the creation of Choreography in working with my artists and have been cultivating a continuing, deepening relationship with the potential of this form for contemporary creation.
 
My own interest with the Kalari vocabulary is based on a love affair with its use of the spine.   I have never seen a more powerful or poetic application of the spine in movement and space that expresses such a fluid power,  balancing a combined masculine strength with a feminine grace. The physical vocabulary of the  Kalarippayattu presents me with new and different uses of the body, spaital considerations, alternative rhythms of moving and different relationships to gravity, power and strength. 

The forms use of space and its' relationship to gravity has an intriguingly, aggressive poetry that is often contrasted with physical sequences of meditative fluidity and animal power.  Its' highly attuned quality  of attention and its integrated mind/body presence seems to expand the practitioner, creating a swelling  energetic and physical state.  In the attack and defence structure of the Kalarippayatt there is a readymade energetic dialogue of action and reaction that has an inherent, dynamic and dramatic relationship composed entirely of  high stakes. 

The piece of choreography I am presenting today is a short excerpt of a full length work entitled "Confluence".  It  was created over the course of 2008/09 and was presented in May of 2009 as part of the Danceworks CoWorks Series at the Annex Theatre.  Since then the work has continued to be developed with the support of the Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council and Dance Ontario

The world of Confluence is rooted in the South Asian expression and exploration of Shiv/Shakti (masculine and feminine energies) believed to be the bases of universal cosmology and reality.  It is the relationship of these two forces that frame the constant, never ending cycles of creation, preservation and destruction. They are the mirco and macro cosmos for our existence, actions, interactions and motivations

            Confluence  integrates diverse movement techniques, from both eastern and western performance traditions, to create a work that explores the myriad of relationships between the masculine and the feminine.  The work asks what happens when these two immense forces crash into each other?  How do they influence each other and what happens when we subvert surface concepts of gender to explore the liminal spaces between?   It is a work that explores the connection between these energies and identities with a highly charged physicality that presents us with different interactions and interpretations of grace, strength, power, sexuality, seduction, play and vulnerability.

It's choreographic language is based in the Indian movement forms of Chauu  and Kalarippayattu and in the full length version I also used  Banethi (North Indian Marital Stick Work) and aerial  work  to create new perspectives and paradigms in east/west performance experimentations and contemporary choreography.

I chose to use kalarippayattu in this piece, not only because it is one of the physical idioms that I am inspired to work with as a choreographer but also because it inherently embodies many of the work's themes. It has been a beautiful and interesting experiment as I am working with dancers, who are western trained, so exploring these movements and different uses of the body has been a long, challenging, rewarding and educational process for all of us.