The Performance of Enchantment

This chapter provides an abstract, general, anatomical impression of Malay silat as I work towards a concrete view of Seni Silat Haqq Melayu. The essential components of Malay silat, including its art and aesthetics, strategy, tactics, kinesthetics, training methods, stance, footwork, dance, patterns, weaponry, and rehearsed combat scenarios are reviewed.¹ Together these components make up the performance factor of the performance of enchantment. Earlier I noted that war magic should be regarded as having cognitive, performative and embodied aspects. By the performance of enchantment I mean the technical components that make up silat, the embodied skills that underlie silat, skills that when honed to perfection over years of practice may give the bearer the appearance of supernatural prowess.