Page 5 | Teaching Javanese dance in schools

Costume

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

The dance scarf

The brightly-coloured dance scarf, or sampur, is an integral part of most Javanese dance costumes. I have a large collection, which I always use in workshops.

Dancers with the sampur (dance scarf)

 

Stereotypically on my part, when I started this work I initially assumed that boys might be reluctant to use a dance scarf, but I have found in practice that they usually take to it quite happily (and some of them say ‘it’s really cool’).

The dance scarf can be very useful for children who are particularly self-conscious about dancing; it gives them a ‘prop’, something to focus on outside themselves.

We look at how the scarf can be used to amplify and emphasise dance movements, or to represent something else; wings, for instance, or fire, or even a weapon.

With older children I go on to explore the more abstract use of the scarf, in ‘pure dance’ movements or in fight sequences, and to develop skill in manipulating it.

With younger children I focus on using it as a prop for representing some aspect of the character they are dancing (bird or butterfly wings, for instance, or elephant’s trunk or ears, or a peacock’s tail, etc).

Making costumes
Javanese dance can be a great stimulus for art and design work. Masks and head-dresses can be made and decorated in a variety of ways - batik scarves, too.

On at least one school project with Golden Deer Gamelan, children as young as four years old were able to make their own dance scarves for a performance, and Year 2 classes made some really spectacular head-dresses.

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