A couple examples from different parts of the world.

Anyone know anything about the history of this tradition?

A couple examples from different parts of the world.

Anyone know anything about the history of this tradition?

As I understand it, Silat is a combination of martial arts from China, Indo-China, India, the Middle East and the indigenous martial arts of Malaysia and its surrounding islands. From when I have looked into it before, I think that many people disagree on the history of Silat, so I could very well be wrong. As for the dances, I do not know for certain but I suspect they are likely a combination of Malaysian tribal dance styles and forms that they would have learned from China and Indo-China.

I think Silat is a very interesting martial art--some of it looks very "karate" while some of it looks very "kung fu" and other parts look alien to both, but they certainly make it work! I also suspect it may have been involved in the development of toudi, way back when Okinawa was trading a lot with Indo-China (that's just my own theory, though) so I find it to be an interesting little piece of the puzzle, so to speak. I would love the chance to learn some of it!