Art Philippe Bucaneg

2011-09543
SEA 30, WF, 10-11:30am
Javanese Dance: A Reaction Paper
These past few meetings of SEA 30 was quite interesting, maybe the most
interesting topic discussed, aside from the Gastronomic Studies of SEA. The lesson not only
gave me basics of the Javanese dance, but it was like I was actually watching one, since the
professor danced Javanese dance while teaching, which was cool. Hearing the professors
experiences as a scholar in dance, I thought my life as a student in the College of Engineering
was already tiring, but I was proven wrong. His experiences, all the physical and mental
challenges, proved that dance isnt just an artsy way of expressing yourself; its a reflection of
culture, deep culture and it requires skill, practice, time, and dedication.
Its the first time Ive heard that a dance originated from a puppet show (I thought
it was the opposite). And also the first time Ive heard of a dance where there is no 1-2-3
counting to be used as measure, but a set of vocabulary. Its amazing how one word in the
vocabulary can mean a number of steps, how one simple word spans out and give more than one
command. Its difficult enough that you have to memorize the dance steps; now it becomes more
challenging when you also have to memorize the vocabulary for each step, or set of steps.
The dance has three types of characters: the female, refined male, and strong
male. These types of character, in my opinion, show that roles are based on your capabilities and
personality. It does not restrict a female from dancing the refined male and strong male, as the

professor said. If a woman is capable and built to dance a male role, it can be given to her.
Unlike ballroom dances, the male can only dance the male part and the female can only dance
the female part.
The movement and execution of the dance is very meticulous and challenging. No
character type is simple. For the female type, movements may be slow but it makes up for the
intense concentration needed to complete such slow movements. For the refined male, its
difficult, as from what I see, to be subtle but show strength; you really need a prince like aura to
pull off a character like this. As for the strong male, this is physically challenging, as the
professor mentioned, since it involves a lot of jumps and movement, joint-breaking movements.
Its remarkable how the professor explained that these dances are taught to children and that
perfection or near perfection is developed through years of training. This is a type of dance
where the steps are very specific, and I can imagine how difficult it would be for to teach little
kids these very intricate movements.
Aside from the dance, importance is given to the weapons and the costumes. This
was really fascinating; the dances plus the vocabulary was already difficult enough to manage;
now they also have to work with the costumes and weapons. They are not merely for show; they
are part of the dance. Somehow, the dance evolves or adapts to whatever weapon the dancer is
holding.
In summary, the Javanese dance is a difficult but beautiful dance. Its nice to
know that this type of cultural dance still flourish, despite the growing modernization of
everything. Its difficult to maintain tradition and culture (though the nature of tradition and
culture is to change).