New Delhi, Oct. 10 -- Just as we did in July, last weekend we saw crowds turning out on the streets-some to protest against alleged irregularities in Election Commission practices, others to demand safety for women in public spaces following complaints of sexual harassment of women journalists and the rape of a student in a Delhi park. While my phone showed images of bodies being used as instruments of resistance, at the Ekalavya Kalari in Palakkad, I watched as young women and men used the body's speed and agility to defend and attack. In one case, leaping and spinning through the air was power; in the other, holding still or lying prone showed strength.

Without any design, this idea of the body being at once vulnerable and powerful has...