Page 3 | Teaching Javanese dance in schools

A workshop model

Contents

An introduction (1)

Teaching dance in Indonesia (2)

A workshop model (3)

Mask and character work (4)

Costume (5)

Music appreciation and follow-up (6)

Seleh Notes Volume 9 Number 2 March 2002

© Gill Roberts

Photographs:
Felicity Drown
Gill Roberts

Over the last couple of years I have been working on developing a model for workshops in Javanese dance in schools, at primary and secondary levels, linked to the National Curriculum.

I’m still working on it, but here is an outline of some of the things I think Javanese dance has to offer for young people.

Warm-ups
This is something you never get in Indonesia! In the relative cold of Europe, however, a warm-up is an essential preliminary.

When I started teaching Javanese dance to children, I used a series of warm-up exercises similar to those I would use with adults.

However, I soon realised that they were pretty abstract as far as the children were concerned and not necessarily very interesting or satisfying in themselves for those without an existing interest in, or aptitude for, dance.

I now use a narrative framework as the main part of warm-ups for children.

Establishing a story gives them something to engage with imaginatively and provides a structure with which they can identify.

I incorporate specific movements to illustrate the narrative, which the children can then practise and refine. These movements are based on familiar everyday actions, but are also the basis of particular Javanese dance steps.

 

Starting out

 

Walking as if you are a cat stalking a bird, or as if you are crossing thin ice, for instance, can produce a stance with knees bent which, combined with a careful but smooth transfer of weight, is characteristic of Javanese dance.

Looking around from side to side as if shading your eyes is equivalent to the movement known as ulap-ulap.

Through group and partner work we practise and develop the narrative dance sequence, until the children become familiar and comfortable with the moves.

I then ask them to develop their own sequence, including certain specific moves. This introduces them to the idea of distilling or concentrating ideas within movement.

Finally, in looking at devising a dance sequence, I introduce the idea of framing a dance with a clear beginning and end, usually using a sequence similar to the sembahan of Javanese dance (a gesture of salutation, honouring the audience).

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