Page 4 | Central Javanese Dance - an introduction

Tradition and today

Contents

Central Javanese Dance - an introduction (1)

Dance types (2)

Character types (3)

Tradition and today (4)

Seleh Notes Volume 6 Number 1 November 1998

© Jo Shaw

Previously court dancers would specialise closely in one character.

Every tiny detail of posture was precisely placed to depict that person, even varying depending on the character’s mood, state of mind and age.

Dancers might spend all their lives dancing one character and being identified with them.

Differences such as how the feet were placed on the ground in tanjak, and where this occurred in relation to the gong stroke, were crucial.

Now, many of these subtleties are lost as more young people study classical dance in the large arts institutions, which in turn have developed their own integral styles and formalisations.

While it is easy to distinguish between the three character styles it is in the minutiae of detail that real interest and character definition lies, and the pleasure in watching an accomplished performer is in the individual touches they bring to the standard, and sometimes repetitive, movements.

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Pak Sunarno as Klana - one of the most popular gagah characters.