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.
kinantang
(strong and proud), the demonic character and the monkey character.
The ideal shape for the female character is a medium height, not
tall but not short, somewhat thin, and with beautiful face. Tile
male refined character Should be of medium height, somewhat thin,
and with delicate features. Given these physical characteristics,
it is not surprising that this male refined dance of the Surakarta
style, especially with the refined and humble characters, is sometimes
performed by women. The male strong character should be danced by
a man who is of strong physical appearance. The demon dance should
be performed by a big and tall man, and the monkey by a strong but
medium or rather small size man.
Female
dancing is performed in closed position and male dancing in open
second position. A female character almost never lifts her feet
from the floor except when she is walking or performing flying movements;
when she steps she merely lifts her feet very slightly. In the movement
of her arms the stress is on the lower arms and hands. While she
is dancing she must always be in a small plie position.
The
male characters, both refined and strong, dance in a open position,
They differ only on the level of the movement of the legs and the
arms, and the quality of the movement. The refined characters is
performed in a slow movement with no accentuation. The lifting of
the feet is not more than seven inches above the floor. While he
is dancing he must always be in a demi-plie position and the upper
arms are always in diagonal downward position. In contrast the strong
dance is performed with staccato quality of movement of the arms,
hands, legs and head. The legs and arms are raised to a harizontal
position.
Javanese dancing, Surakarta style and Javanese dancing, Yogyakarta
style are style are the costume, the dialogue and the dance-movements.
The costume of Surakarta style is brilliant, stately, colourful,
and decorated with a great number of sprakling jewels. The costume
of Yogyakarta style is simpler, but the shaping of its leather work
is more complex.
The
dialogue of Surakarta style resembles the dialoque of a wayang kulit
(leather puppet or shadow play) expressed by the dalang (puppeteer).
The Surakarta style dialoque resembles the Javanese language used
in daily life while the Yogyakarta style, dialogue is rather stiff,
restricted by binding rules. The Surakarta style dialogue is a romanantic,
while the Yogyakarta style dialoque is classical.
The movements of the Surakarta style are curved and soft and resemble
the Baroque style, whereas the Yogyakarta style requires straight
and strong steps and movements, so that it looks like the Renaissance
style.
PEOPLE'S
DANCES IN CENTRAL JAVA
It
is worth noting that the above-mentioned dances are dances created
and developed only in cirles within the walls of the royal court
and the mansions of the nobility.
Since dancing is a branch of art which is closest to human life,
there exist not only the two styles of dancing which are feudal
in nature, enjoyable only for exclusive court and nobility-circles,
but also dances belonging to the common people. Professor Th, Pigeaud
In his book, Javanese Volksrvetoningen (Javanese Folk Theatre),
written before World War II, listed and explained dances performed
throughout Java.
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