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JAVA LANGEN

At present, neither the bedaya nor the srimpi is so popular among the majority of the people. However, they are still cultivated continuously being given new choreographies and made more dynamic.

In Yogyakarta the langen mandra wanara expericnced it decline in the 1930's because the court circles and the nobility preferred wayang wong. But in 1960, at the suggestion of the then Minister of Education and Culture the langen mandra wanara was cultivated again because of its high aesthetic value.

BEKSAN AND WIRENG OR PETILAN

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The beksan and wireng or petilan are Surakarta and Yogyakarta style dances which are solo, duet, or quartet dances or dances danced in pairs, Beksan comes from the stern beksa meaning dancing wireng comes from the stem wira meaning brave; and petilan means a fragment.
The term beksan and petilan are used to refer to Yogyakarta style, not wireng the Surakarta style, however, uses these three terms.
The term beksan in Yogyakarta is used to refer either to solo dances or duet, quartet and pair dances. The beksan Yogyakarta style, which have always been popular, are Beksan Golek (solo) and Beksan Klana Topeng (solo). Most of the beksans in pairs (duet or quartet) are battles between warriors from the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics and from other stories, used to be called petilan. The petilan Yogyakarta style, which are war-dances are the Petilan Srikandi fighting Bisma, Petilan Srikandi fighting Larasati, Petilan Gatut kaca fighting the giant Sekipu, Petilan Arjuna fighting the giant Cakil, Petilan Laksmana fighting Sarpakenaka, Petilan Hanuman fighting Indrajit, etc. The bedaya, srimpi and the lawung (lance) dances in Yogyakarta are called beksan, not petilan.
In the Surakarta style, the term beksan refers to solo-dances Such as Beksan Gambyong, Beksan Bondan, Beksan Golek and so on. In Surakarta the term wireng or petilan is used to refer to dancing in pairs, which are usually war-dances. Well-known wireng or petilan Surakarta style are wireng Arjuna fighting the giant Cakil, Wireng Srikandi fighting the giant Cakil, Wireng Srikandi fighting Larasati and others. The lawung dance is sometimes called beksan, and sometimes wireng, but not petilan.

It is worth noting that the difference between Surakarta style and Yogyakarta style is not so marked. Consequently, people who are not from Surakarta. or Yogyakarta themselves or who do not know. the two styles of Javanese dancing well, will have difficulties in distinguishing the one from the other. Even so each has its. distinctive characteristics. It is apparent however, that at present the two styles of Javanese dancing influence one another.

CHARACTERIZATION IN JAVANESE DANCING

It should be noted that there is a characterization in Javanese dancing. This characterization is based on the protagonists of the Ramayana and Mahabharata epics of the shadow play. Javanese dancing, both Surakarta and Yogyakarta styles, can be divided into female and male dancing. In terms of vocabulary of movements there is only one characterization for female dancers, but this can be represented by either luruh (humble) or the branyak (proud) character.

Influenced by shadow play characterization, in male dancing there are a great many variations of characterization. The two chief characters are the alus (refined) and the gagah (strong). The dus may be subdivided into two: the alus luruh (refined and humble) and the alus branyak (refined and proud). In the strong or gagah of character there are a number of subdivisions, the important ones being: the gagah kambeng (strong and humble), the gagah kalang