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Clear’s Silat Defensive/Offensive Slaps
A Video Review by Phil Elmore
In the martial arts, there are practitioners who are afraid to have
“nonbelievers” view their material, and there are individuals confident
enough in what they do to stand behind it. Sigung Richard Clear is
definitely among the latter.
Mr. Clear sent me, at his own expense, a video depicting both
his Defensive Slaps and Offensive Slaps classes. He did this knowing
I would review the tape. He did not hesitate, nor preface the tape
with a warning that only those already steeped in Silat would be able to
comprehend the video’s contents. I think he has good reason to be
proud of his work.
It looks like a camera was propped in the back of Mr. Clear’s studio
during the classes in question. Production quality is what one would
expect of an informal setup of this kind. The sound is tinny but
audible, and there is some background noise produced by the other students
(who aren’t normally visible). Periodically Sigung Clear pauses to
let the students practice what they have seen — producing a humorous
“teleporting genie” effect when he stands in place but is somewhere
slightly different when the tape resumes. I think at least once one
of the students managed to bump the camera’s tripod, too — though none of
these things prevented me from absorbing the material on the tape.
Sigung Clear works with two different training partners, and all three
are dressed in what I always think of as Kung Fu uniforms. The
willing victim for the defensive slaps course is a young man, while a
petite blonde lady stands in for the offensive slaps portion of the tape.
Sigung Clear, though he does not ad lib as glibly as some teachers I’ve
seen in instructional tapes, obviously knows what he’s doing. He’s
fluid, confident, and — in those instances where he demonstrates
techniques at full speed — remarkably fast.
The defensive slaps portion of the tape covers a variety
of similar techniques executed from a hands-up, open-palm stance.
Clear demonstrates moving to the outside of the attacker while taking the
same-side hand and slapping down and through to control the attacker’s
striking limb. He follows this by recommending drawing the feet in
somewhat, narrowing one’s stance for greater mobility. He advocates
a balance of both speed and power, being careful not to sacrifice too much
of one for the other.
Clear goes on to discuss why the open hand strike is often preferable
to the closed fist. He quite accurately points out the gain in speed
accomplished by keeping the hand open (though one can always make a fist
as the hand reaches its target), discusses the benefits of the increased
surface area and transmission of “shock” through the soft area of the
palm, and demonstrates the difference between open-hand and closed-hand
strikes using a focus mitt held by his partner. The ease with which
an open hand is transformed into any number of strikes — from spear-hands
to edge-of-hand blows to cupped slaps to grabs — is emphasized.
Sigung Clear also demonstrates a breathing exercise that he says helps
move blood through the body, lessening the pain from slaps and causing
cuts to bleed less. I am not qualified to comment on this aspect of
the tape, but it’s an interesting idea.
While the first segment discussed what I would call controlling parries
— joins — the next segment explains “cuts,” in which an open palm is
used to slap and scrape the opponent’s limb. Clear then demonstrates
using joins and cuts together. Again, at full speed his skill is
very apparent.
Time is also spent on a move similar to the first fan block I was
taught — a combination that looks like slapping one’s opposite shoulder
before bringing the free hand up and striking/blocking in the same
direction. I was pleased to discover that the gross motor movements
for this maneuver are already ingrained in me, though the hand positions
are different.
The offensive slaps portion of the video provides more detail on cupped
hand strikes. Clear describes targets that include the head, neck,
and ears, demonstrating several slaps that can put an opponent on the
floor. The hands-up, open-palm stance is used again.
Combinations, footwork (including the benefits of stepping into the
opponent to deliver variations on the techniques I’ve described here), and
one’s inability to predict precisely from where an attack will come are
all discussed. The primary focus, at least at this level, appears to
be the execution of parrying and blocking combinations in conjunction with
open-hand counterstrikes. At times it looks like open-hand
grappling, in which leverage is applied through the limbs but relatively
little grabbing is taking place.
Overall, I liked this video very much. It came with a card-stock
pamphlet that uses a lot of the hard-sell martial arts marketing I do not
like — talk of “secrets” and “guarantees” of self-defense mastery — and
I have to admit that seeing the pamphlet alone would have put me off
regarding this particular school. The tape content, however, more
than made up for this. I know the tape was good, because it
immediately made me want to call my teacher and work on some of the
techniques Sigung Clear demonstrated.
If you’re at all interested in arts of this type, by all means start
with Clear’s Kun Tao Silat.
The website is
http://www.clearsilat.com.