Thesis submitted in f u l f ilm e n t of requirements f o r the Degree of PhD in the Department o f Anthropology and Sociology, School of Oriental and African Studies, U niversity o f London
February 1986
ProQuest Number: 10672774
All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS
The qu ality of this repro d u ctio n is d e p e n d e n t upon the q u ality of the copy subm itted.
In the unlikely e v e n t that the a u th o r did not send a c o m p le te m anuscript and there are missing pages, these will be note d . Also, if m aterial had to be rem oved,
a n o te will in d ica te the deletion.
uest
ProQuest 10672774
Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). C op yrig ht of the Dissertation is held by the Author.
All rights reserved.
This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C o d e M icroform Edition © ProQuest LLC.
ProQuest LLC.
789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346
Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346
Dance plays an important ro le in how Javanese people represent themselves to each other and to non-Javanese. This study explores dance forms associated with the Sultan's palace in Yogy^karta, taken up by various in te r e s t groups a f t e r Indonesian independence. Part One presents a survey o f current th e o re tic a l approaches to dance f o r
anthropology, t h e i r lim ita tio n s being illu s t r a t e d by an analysis o f palace dance, p a r t ic u la r ly the c la s s if ic a t io n o f forms, movements, and modes, and raises questions about the usefulness o f the term 'dance', used here f o r convenience, not as an essentialised category (Chapters I I - I I I ) .
Implications are developed with reference to f ie ld s o f aesthetics and semiotics, and I consider the re la tio n of representations to
r e a l i t y (Chapter IV). Part Two introduces data about the t r a d itio n a l associations o f these representations. C la s s ific a tio n s and model- making in observer and informant accounts lead to • how people make
sense and how presuppositions generate discourses which allow meaningful ness to be delayed ra ther than f u l f i l l e d , and i t is argued th a t 'p o e tic '
features o f th is be rejected as c o n s titu tin g grounds f o r the formulation o f the Javanese as 'o th e r' (Chapters V-VI). How these styles of
explanation a f f e c t our understanding of metaphysical dimensions is explored, from accounts o f the s e lf through Javanese theories of
knowledge, to current Javanese polemics and what these make theories of communication look l i k e , and how ideas about the past are used in the contest to define a u th e n tic ity in 'c la s s ic a l' dance in Yogyakarta today (Chapters V I I - V I I I ) .
3
The problem o f closure in categories is the broadest concern of th is study, p a r t ic u la r ly 'dance', 'J a v a ', and also 'anthropology'.
The perspectival approach aims to do ju s t ic e to the ethnography, and to overcome misrepresentations a ris in g from tra n s la tio n s of indigenous
terms and discourses. Though ignorance leads the fie ld w o rke r to take things too l i t e r a l l y , informant ignorance is recognised. What data are is
a matter o f in te r p r e ta t io n , and the conclusion hesitates to p o s it, and asks instead th a t we acknowledge
on images, and take more note of other societies to ourselves.
our own tendency to create and rest what we are doing when we represent
ABSTRACT 2
L is t of Figures 6
L i s t o f Tables 6
Foreword 7
CHAPTER I : INTRODUCTION: AT FIRST SIGHT 11
i . The L o c a lity 11
i i . The Sultan and his Palace 17
i i i . Palace Dance Resources 22
iv . Image and Text in Theory 40
Notes 55
CHAPTER I I : PROBLEMS OF DANCE IN THEORY 58
Notes 70
CHAPTER I I I : THE NAMING OF PARTS 72
i . Bffksa/ Joged 73
i i . Bgksa Putri 77
al Forms 80
b) The Problem: Expectations o f Sense 84
i i i . Bgksa as Mode 113
i v . Conclusions 129
Notes 133
CHAPTER IV : IMPLICATIONS 140
1. Representations 142
i i . Id e n tific a tio n s 145
i i i . Style and Expression 149
iv . In te rp re ta tio n , Meaning and C odifica tion 154 v. Versions and M u ltip le Perspectives 161
v i . Conclusions 163
Notes . 166
CHAPTER V : KRATON: THE PALACE AND ITS PLACE 176
i . Being in Place: Two Instances 179
i i . The Place o f the King 185
i i i . Cosmological In s c r ip tio n s , 195 Locational Bearings
iv . Displacements 209
v. Within and Without: Palace as
Exclusive World 225
v i . The Palace Embodied 237
Notes 242
CHAPTER VI : JAVANESE DISCOURSE: STRUCTURE AND SENSE £58
i . Sense o f the Social: Rukun 261
i i . Formality and Fracture 266
i i i . Talking under the Tree 279
iv . Explaining Things, Placing Things 285
v. Conclusions 308
Notes 310
5
Page CHAPTER VII : WHAT MAKES A DANCER? PRESUPPOSITIONS OF 320
THE SELF
i . Intending to Dance 323
i i . Versions o f the Self 333
i i i . Sense of the S elf 338
i v . Perception and Knowledge: Grounds 345
and Dispersals 353
v. Joged Mataram
v i . Knowing and Showing 365
v i i . The Ins and Outs o f Dance. 374
v i i i . Conclusions 379
Notes 382
CHAPTER V I I I : THE LOST HERO AND THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY 393
i . Remembering Groups 396
i i . Action as Violence 406
i i i . Heroes and Heirlooms 416
iv . ...and then the Books got L o s t... 429
v. Dance: A Means to Compete 433
v i . Defining A u th e n tic ity 441
Notes 454
CHAPTER IX : CONCLUSIONS 463
APPENDICES
1. Forms, Origins and References in Yogyakarta 467
2. Sari Tunggal 469
3. 'The Explication o f B^dhaya and Srimpi Entertainments' 482
4. Two C la s s ific a tio n Systems 488
5. Other Arts Organisations in Yogyakarta 490
6. L a ir-b a tin Perspectives 485
7. Stimulus, Perception and Id e n tific a tio n s 496
S im plified Glosses of Commonly-used Terms 497
L is t o f Abbreviations 502
Notes to Photographic I llu s t r a t i o n s 503
I l l u s t r a t i o n s 507
BIBLIOGRAPHY 530
LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1
Figure 2 Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5
Figure 6:
Map o f the Special Region of Yogyakarta The Kasultanan: the greatest extent The Kasultanan: courtyards and squares
Id e n tific a tio n s o f the palace
Scheme f o r dance in the Bangsal K£ncana:
Wayang Wong
Schema f o r dance in the Bangsal KSncana:
Bedhaya
Page
12 188 189 207 215
216
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: Dominant dance organisations in Yogyakarta 33 Table 2: Male dance modes in the Yogyakartan palace 116
s ty le
Table 3: Bedhaya formations 126
Table 4: Wayang Wong f l o o r patterns 128
Table 5: Dance as d iffe r e n tia te d according to " in " 227 and "out"
Table 6: Javanese terms f o r figu res of speech 291
7
FOREWORD
This study is based on fieldw ork conducted in Yogyakarta, a province in South Central Java, f o r sixteen months, from October 1982 u n t il
February 1984. The dance in question is c h ie fly th a t of the palace of the Sultan of Yogyakarta ( c o llo q u ia lly abbreviated to Yogya) and should not be confused with what is often called 'Javanese dance', namely the forms of the other court in Central Java, in Surakarta (or Sala), which is located some f i f t y kilometres east of Yogyakarta. The re la tio n of the Yogyakartan palace to the Kasunanan of Surakarta, and to other
princely courts w i l l be discussed in due course, as w i l l also the re la tio n o f the Special Region o f Yogyakarta to the Republic of Indonesia, which was declared an independent state in 1945. As Yogyakarta i t s e l f was only founded in 1755, we are dealing with modern p o l it ie s .
For most o f the fieldwork time I liv e d in a community ( kampung) to the west o f the palace region. The community was a mixture o f indigenous householders, many o f whom worked in the palace or whose parents had done so during t h e i r liv e s , and of students from Java and other parts of
Indonesia studying in nearby schools and in s t it u t e s f o r higher education:
nearby were both Islamic and C hristian schools and the government a r t college, ASRI. The household in which I liv e d consisted o f a Javanese Catholic couple who acted as entrepreneurs, t h e i r two grandsons, and a number o f lodgers, male and female, ranging from sixteen to t h i r t y years in age. The community had in the 1970s been the home o f a well-known experimental the a tre , s t i l l remembered, but no longer a c tiv e ; famous
palace choreographers and musicians also liv e d there. So 'tr a d itio n a lis m ' and 'modernism1, c h a ra c te ris tic s o f a town acclaimed as a centre of cultu re and education, were well represented in the community where I liv e d .
pamulangan Beksa Ngayogyakarta, and sporadically in the homes o f two female dancers from the palace fa m ily . When not t r a in in g , I frequented tra in in g centres as an observer, as well as attending as many f u l l
performances as I was able. I attended nearly every Sunday morning dance practice held in the palace f o r t o u r is t s , as well as the palace performances.
Language tra in in g in Javanese was continued throughout fieldwork f o r reasons o f ethnography as well as l i n g u i s t i c s k i l l s . I had previously liv e d in East Java (two years) and Yogyakarta (1979) while teaching English language and l i t e r a t u r e with Voluntary Services Overseas.
The local currency is the Indonesian rupiah, and during fieldw ork th is fluctu a te d between the ra te o f Rp 1,500 and Rp 1,000 to the pound s t e r lin g .
This work would have been impossible without the support o f the fo llo w in g : the Anthropology Department o f the School o f Oriental and African Studies, U niversity o f London, o f which I am a member, with special thanks to Dr. Mark Hobart f o r his patience as a supervisor, and to Nicholas Tapp f o r his encouragement and comments on d ra fts in progress;
the SSRC who funded me with a studentship; the Indonesian I n s t it u t e o f Science and Education (Lembaga Ilmu dan Pendidikan Indonesia) who mediated the p roject in Indonesia; The Faculty of Philosophy a t Gadjah Mada
U n iv e rs ity , Yogyakarta, which acted as my sponsor; and to the Dutch Department of Bedford College, U niversity of London - to Paul Vincent and Dr. Guest in p a r tic u la r . Invaluable support during fieldw ork was
provided by the fo llo w in g in s t it u t io n s and in d iv id u a ls . In the
Kasultanan palace, the Administration Section; KHP Kridha Mardawa (Arts Section), and KHP Widyabudaya (L ib ra ry and Cultural Section); His
Highness Sultan Ham&ngku Buwana IX f o r permission to use the palace l i b r a r i e s ; to his son BRM Sulaksmono f o r his u n s tin tin g mediation and kindness; and KRT Widyakoesoema f o r being a lib r a r ia n par excellence.
The s t a f f and students o f the secondary and t e r t i a r y dance academies, SMKI-KONRI, and ASTI; the s t a f f and students of the Pamulangan Beksa Ngayogyakarta and Siswa Among B£ksa dance organisations; the s t a f f o f the L ib ra rie s of the Sanabudaya Museum, the Language Development Centre
(Balai Penelitian Bahasa), and the Arts Faculty, Gadjah Mada U n iv e rs ity ; the Yogyakarta o f f ic e of the M in is try o f Education and Culture (PDK);
the sub-branch o f the PDK f o r dance and spo rt; the Special Region of Yogyakarta Inspectorate o f the Arts (Dewan Kesenian); the Social and p o l i t i c a l Section o f the Special Region of Yogyakarta; Bapak RT o f K^tanggungan RT IX; and to my hosts there.
Special thanks are due to the following in d iv id u a ls . Dra Endang Daruni Asdi and her fa m ily ; Pak Barsana; Gordon and Nanies Bishop;
Dyah K u s tiy a n ti; RM Dinusatama; Debbie and Sabik Subianto; Eve Faber;
RM Francis D. Yury; T it ie k Harsono; KRT Hardjanegara; O livia de H a u lle v ilie ; RA Sri Kadaryati; Dra S i t i Sundari Maharto-Tjitrosubono and her fa m ily , esp ecia lly RM Jarot Wisnubroto; G loria and Soepomo Poedjosoedarmo; KRT Puspaningrat; BRA P u t r ia s t u t i; Mas Sarjana, Mbak Sri and the c h ild re n ; Mas Sugihartono and his fa m ily ; RL Sasmintamardawa; Ben Suharto SST; Bapak and Ibu Supardjan; KGPA Suryobrongto and his fa m ily ; Mbak Sunarti Suwandi and her fa m ily ;
R. Suseno, his fam ily and tra in e e s; BRA Yudanegara; 'Pak Yu'; RM Wisnu
Wardhana; and la s t but not le a s t, T u t i , Anggara, and a l l the other bedhaya, s rim p i, and r i n g g i t in Yogyakarta. Those not l is t e d are also remembered with g ra titu d e .
A note is necessary on the s p e llin g and pronunciation o f Javanese and Indonesian terms.
Indonesian and Javanese spellings were ra tio n a lis e d in 1972 and 1973 re s p e c tiv e ly , and th is is applied in th is th e s is , except in the case of personal names where i t is up to the ind ivid ual to choose s p e llin g which he or she uses: sometimes a combination of old and new, and sometimes variable. • Most important to note is the old s p e llin g 'oe' /u / f o r the modern ' u 1. Confusion may also arise i f one f a i l s to note th a t modern spellings 1j 1 / j / and ' y 1 / y / in the old system were 1d j ' and ' j '.
There are three 'e ' sounds in Javanese; and I fo llo w convention in not d is tin g u is h in g '£ ' / § / and '£ ' / e / but j u s t in d ica te the pepet 1e 1 / e / , sounded l i k e the l a s t s y lla b le in ' R i t a '. In s p e llin g i t often varies with l a '. In Javanese (but not Indonesian), ' a 1 is pronounced ’ o' / o / as in 'yoyo ', with some exceptions (see Horne 1974). 'Bedhaya' should thus be pronounced /fr»cbyy (bedhoiyo).
Indigenous terms underlined w i l l represent the low Javanese ( ngoko) or the term used in a l l the levels without being distinguish ed. Terms re s tric te d to high and h o n o rific s ( krama, krama i n g g i l , krama andhap) w i l l be marked k .^ k .i.^ a n d k . a . , re sp ective ly, and those o f the middle
(madya) and low ( ngoko) m. andng. where necessary. Indonesian words or Javanese words used in Indonesian with Indonesian spe llin gs w i l l be marked B . I - ; Old Javanese, Sanskrit and Arabic words w i l l be marked O .J., Skt, and Ar.
1 1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION: At F i r s t Sight
F ir s t impressions are ra re ly more than a prelude to a d if f e r e n t kind o f ap preciation, and th is chapter w i l l be no exception, having as i t s aim but a b r ie f mapping of the f i e l d of study in terms o f co-ordinates which w i l l be taken up in subsequent argument. This introd u ction serves simply to plant a few ethnographic markers in order to establish where the work is located and to sketch in some th e o re tic a l antecedents to suggest why i t has been done the way i t has.
The notion o f 'dance' has provided the dominant frame to research, and the thesis i t s e l f , as i t s t i t l e suggests, posits search as an
active p a rt, dance becoming both means to , and f o r , the questions to be d e a lt w ith.
The dance in Yogyakarta refers c h ie fly to forms which are understood, by those who are concerned with such th in g s , as belonging to the palace of the Sultan. I n i t i a l bearings then w i l l be provided about Yogyakarta, the Sultan and his palace, the Kasultanan, and the dances. Then a
second set o f references w i l l be introduced in an overview o f academic approaches to the region, t h e i r ethnographic tone, and the problems which have been generated as a r e s u lt of t h is .
i ) The L o c a lity
The name Yogyakarta denotes both an urban centre ( kotamadya) and
one o f the twenty-seven provinces which c o n s titu te the Indonesian Republic, i t s formal t i t l e being the Special Region of Yogyakarta, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta (DIY). Located in Southern Central Java, the Special Region of
F i g . 1 . The S p e c ia l Region o f Yogyakarta
CTAVA C & N T& A Z- J"AVA
4 . M t HERAPt
o .*
KULON PROCrO )• ^ti<L
6UMUN& KlOUi- )N DON ESI AM OCEAN
Key: ... Kabupaten(R egency) boundary
— - - P r o v in c ia l boundary o Kabupate n cap i t a l
• o th er town or v i l l a g e
1 3
Yogyakarta comprises fo u r regencies ( kabupaten) with the town at t h e ir centre (see F ig .1 ). As o f the la s t census (1982) the population of th is area stands at 2,821,037 inhabita nts, 400,000 o f whom l i v e in the urban sector, t h ir t y - t w o square kilometres (Mongrafi DIY 1979; Penduduk
propinsi DIY 1982).1
Fieldwork centred on the town i t s e l f , supplemented by occasional forays in keeping with the palace’ s r i t u a l cycle of v i s i t s to the mountain, Gunung M^rapi, in the n orth-east, and the sea, to the south coast between the v illa g e s o f P a ra n g tritis and Parangkusuma, and to other site s favoured by t r a d it io n a l p ra ctice . As w i l l be shown, the town i t s e l f p a rtic ip a te s in a highly underdetermined cosmological scheme which is related to other c la s s if ic a t o r y stra te g ie s . The name ’ Yogya1
because of th is is a l i v i n g element in the ethos both recorded in and c o n s titu tiv e o f t h is study, having as i t does both a l i t e r a l and a
metaphysical presence, replete with resonances to conjure w ith . 2 Indeed,
had i t not been f o r th is s p e ll, I would not have returned there to conduct fie ld w o rk. The modernity of Yogyakarta, founded in AD 1756 by a fa c tio n o f the ru lin g lin e based some f i f t y kilometres to the east in the ca p ital of Surakarta, does not lessen the capacity i t has to evoke strong personal id e n tific a tio n s with the l o c a l i t y , a v i t a l fa c t o r in the consideration of the dance practices which are also characterised as of Yogyakarta. Ideational and i n f lu e n t ia l forces aside, the lo c a li t y is also con stitute d by i t s organisational s tru c tu re , which is described as i t exists in the urban sector, though a tte n tio n w i l l be drawn to the way in which th is smaller-scale system mirrors the organisation o f the rural ad m inistra tive sectors.
The town is divided in to fourteen s u b d is tric ts or wards ( kecamatan) , each responsible to a camat who p a rtic ip a te s in what is known as the Wilayah Kecamatan. 3 Each ward divides fu r th e r into neighbourhoods
(kampung, desa, in o f f i c i a l parlance Rukun Kampung or RK) .headed by a lo c a lly elected unsalaried volunteer known as Pak RK (a post equivalent to the ru ral post o f Pak Lurah, 'v i l l a g e head1). I t should be noted th a t the po sition of 1 urah in 1974 was introduced in to the urban sector as a salaried government appointment, part o f what is seen as
i n t e n s if ic a t io n of lower-level surve illa nce . On average three are three or fo u r lurah to each camat, and three or fo u r Pak RK to each lu r a h , though th is w i l l vary, each kecamatan having i t s own dimensions and population. Onesuch lurah explained th a t the lurah is twin to the
Pak RK: one organises, the other carries out the work.
The smallest social u n it is the s tre e t community with d ir e c t
re s p o n s ib ility to the Pak RT (Rukun Tetangga, in rural sectors dukuhan) , lo c a lly elected and unsalaried. Pak RT are responsible f o r general s e c u rity , organise the n ig h t watch ( rond.a) , and fun ctio n as mediators among th a t most fra c tio u s o f social u n its , the local community, which divides em otionally, not organisationally^beyond RT in to factio ns which Sullivan has u s e fu lly dubbed ' c e l l s ' (1980:14 f f . ) .
O f f i c i a l l y then, I inhabited the kecamatan o f Wirabrajan, in one o f eight neighbourhoods (RK), Ketanggungan comprising some 785 households, divided in to eleven s tre e t communities (RT) of which mine was Number IX.
Ketanggungan had already been linked with another RK and assigned to a Pak Lurah who co n tro lle d t h i r t y - s i x Pak RT and some 1,911 households (as o f 1984).
I S
These neighbourhoods and communities serve as u n its f o r the
organisation o f recreational a c t i v i t i e s such as music-making, singing, and dancing. For the 1983 Independence f e s t i v i t i e s , the kalurahan Wirabrajan provided a local c a r n iv a l, each Pak RT having kept a fund to contribute to expenses f o r costumes and so f o r t h . Religious a c t i v i t i e s are also catered f o r , and in Islam, the community w i l l have as much to do with a nearby Musholla, a small house o f worship in the RK, as with the fully-endowed Mosques, e sp e cially a t meetings which fo llo w the evening Maghrib prayer. Apart from these s tru c tu rin g organisational function s, an id e n t if ic a t io n is provided. Within Yogyakarta, persons are id e n tifie d by the kampung they come from, th is being the smallest named social u n it , RT having no names.
The palace or court ( kraton)^ o f the Sultan of Yogyakarta, the Kasultanan, is situated w ith in the ward named Kraton, an area o f fou r
square kilometres known generally as Beteng ( f o r t ) , enclosed by stout white w alls. In the early days of the p r in c i p a l i t y , the areas immediately
beyond th is f o r t i f i c a t i o n to the east, south and west were allocated to the corps o f palace sold iers a f t e r which s u b - d is tr ic ts and neighbourhoods are named to th is day. In the neighbourhood of Ketanggungan, a f t e r the Ketanggung corps of palace s o ld ie rs , landholding s t i l l r e fle c ts the professional apportioning. Today, however, there are no more palace s o ld ie rs , and court o f f i c i a l s ( abdidalem) of a l l ranks l i v e intermingled in communities with members o f other classes and o r ig in s . The exception to th is is the Kraton ward, i t s regulations excluding foreigners ( th is includes Chinese) from taking up residence w ith in the f o r t w a lls . Land here is owned by the Sultan and is t h e o r e tic a lly ina lie n ab le although houses and land use may be purchased and handed down as an inheritance.
The use of the terms 'in s id e ' and 'o u tsid e' (j£ ro and ja b a ) occur with reference to th is f o r t i f i c a t i o n .
Despite these meshes o f boundaries and local i d e n t if ic a t io n s , there is m o b ility both w ith in the urban sector and between i t and the four rural regencies, mostly in terms o f material exchange. The Special Region o f Yogyakarta is predominantly agrarian, producing r ic e and sugar.
Urban production focuses on c r a f t s , mainly bathik c lo th and leatherwork, and there are no major ind u strie s in the region. The central market in town is located to the north o f the palace and^like other local markets, opens d a ily . Other specialised markets both in and out of town operate on the old five-day system, the Javanese week o f Legi, Paing, Pon, Wage, Kliwon. Thus Pasar Pon is a liv e s to c k market held on Pon; but Pasar Legi is no longer r e s tric te d to Legi and opens d a ily , although informants reckon i t is biggest on Legi; Kliwon, Paing and Wage have been l o s t in Yogyakarta. Outside the town Bantu! (to the south) has Pon, Godean (to the west) has Kliwon, and Wonosari (to the south-east) has a c a t t le market on Wage.
M o b ility across boundaries and interchange apply beyond the Special Region o f Yogyakarta to the re st of Central Java, to East Java, Sunda (West Java), to the c a p it a l, Jakarta, and beyond th is to the other twenty-six provinces where l i v e the three hundred or so ethnic groups which form the population o f the Indonesian Republic. Yogyakarta's character as an educational centre r e fle c ts th is wider m o b ility . As landless farmers from the region are transferred to other islands on government transmigration p r o je c ts , the children of wealthy or educated outer islanders come in to Java to be tra in ed . This modern and progressive trend is one aspect of the town. The other is i t s strong adherence to pre-independence concepts, to which I shall now turn.
1 7
i i ) The Sultan and his Palace
The Special Region of Yogyakarta s t i l l has a t i t u l a r Sultan5 and a possible succession although t h is was c o n s titu tio n a lly terminated in
1946. In 1950, the Sultan was o f f i c i a l l y made Governor of the DIY Province, while KGAA Pakualam, Prince o f Yogya's secondary co u rt, which was established under B r itis h ru le (1811-16) with HBI's s ix th son, Natakusuma, as i t s f i r s t incumbent (R icklefs 1974:352, see also
Lindsay 1980), became the Vice-Governor. While p o l i t i c a l a u th o rity is invested in and le g itim is e d by a republican ideology, expressed f o r the Sultan in his Governorship, th is formulation does not e x is t in complete contrast to the Yogyakartan understanding of the Sultan's po sition p r io r to 1945 under Dutch, B ritis h ,a n d Japanese colonisa tio ns. The p o l it ic a l status of the present Sultan Hamengku Buwana IX (henceforth HBIX) as republican is rooted in ideas of the Yogyakartans about t h e i r own p o l it ic a l effectiveness and t h e i r revolutionary id e n t i t y , not merely
expressed in g u e r r il l a a c t i v i t i e s leading up to and continuing a f t e r 1945, but in the very conditions which led to the establishment of Yogyakarta follo w ing the Treaty o f Giyanti in AD 1755. (Selosoemardjan 1962:
Ch.5 f o r developments in the 1950s). The ro le o f dance in th is s e l f - concept w i l l be elaborated during the course o f argument.
The ambivalent nature o f HBIXrs image and reputation in Yogyakarta today is best i l l u s t r a t e d by a contrast with the contemporary fa te of the r u le r o f the o rig in a l house o f Central Java, Susuhunan Paku Buwana o f Surakarta. While the Special Region of Yogyakarta's p o l it ic a l
boundaries are not very d if f e r e n t from the t e r r i t o r i e s o f the P r in c ip a lit y classed as negara agung ( 'big lan ds' ) , (the ou tlying mancanegara lands
having been confiscated a f t e r the Java war in AD 1830), Surakarta has no special adm in istra tive status, subsumed as i t is to the Province o f Central Java administered from the coastal Semarang. Although both palaces - the Kasultanan in Yogyakarta and the Kasusanan in Surakarta - are open to the public in p a rt, the l a t t e r is reckoned to be more o f a museum, no longer a l i v i n g kra ton, no longer a ru lin g house.6 This idea is one in an extensive series o f Yogyakartan in te rp re ta tio n s of Surakarta, which w i l l be shown as part of an expression of difference which reaches i t s purest formulation in the dance p ra c tic e . What is
spoken of as the tr a d it io n s o f Central Java by scholars generally refers to those o f Surakarta, i f not o f the Susuhunan's palace, then of the prin ce ly cou rt, the Mangkunegaran, established at the same time as Yogyakarta: th is is evident in studies o f dance (Van Lelyveld 1931;
Holt 1937, e t c . ) .
The q u a litie s and stra teg ies which created the conditions enabling HBIX, unlike his Surakartan counterpart, to emerge s tro ng ly at the end of the period of Japanese colo nisatio n (1942-45), having come to the throne only in 1940, should be understood as an admixture o f pragmatic p o l it ic a l realism - one lesson, no doubt, le a rn t from his education in the Netherlands - and leadership in a form which would appeal to the Javanese sense of t r a d i t i o n (see Roem et a l . , 1982). He responded to his position as Sultan by tre a tin g i t as an e ff e c tiv e adm inistra tive ro le instead o f $s the symbolic one o f former days, inscribed in a hallowed semi-divine
sphere, re posito ry o f powerful heirlooms ( pusaka) (one aspect o f kraton) , protected from r e a l p o l i t i k by a c h ie f m in iste r ( pepatih dalgm) who
con trolle d eight heads o f s t a f f ( nayaka) ; the m in is te r ia l buildings now, s i g n if ic a n t l y , house the headquarters of the Special Region of Yogyakarta's
1 9
central ad m inistra tio n . He managed also to s a tis fy expectations o f an ideal leader, epitomised f o r the Yogyakartans by t h e i r f i r s t Sultan, a fig u re composed o f an assortment of f ic t io n s and projections which c o n s titu te Javanese h is to ry expressed in i t s chronicles ( babad) ; the other kind, VOC (Verenigde Oost Indische Compagnie) archival h is to r y , shows a d if f e r e n t set o f representations, as w i l l become evident
presently. As HBI is credited with the 'c re a tio n ' of many palace dance forms, I shall return to him in due course. The present Sultan was responsible f o r opening up the palace to to u r is ts in keeping with the s p i r i t of the new re pu b lic. He also earned c re d it ( a f t e r an i n i t i a l shock) by o ffe rin g part of the palace to be used by the newly-founded Gadjah Mada U niversity in 1946. I t has been th is modernism, i r o n i c a l l y , which has helped to sustain the tr a d it io n a l bases o f Yogyakartan
id e n t if ic a t io n s , something which has f a ile d to happen in Surakarta, although the Susuhunan made a belated gesture in l e t t i n g the f r o n t part of his palace to the local government music and dance academy, ASKI.
To close the contrast between Yogyakarta and Surakarta, i t might be noted th a t in the palace o f the Susuhunan, o f f i c i a l s wear c i v i l servant
uniforms f o r d a ily use, while in Yogyakarta t r a d itio n a l dress is worn:
the appearance is deceptive, i n i t i a l l y , but may be understood as a mark o f Yogyakarta's more self-contained autonomous s ty le and id e n t if ic a t io n with an idiom o f re b e llio n , despite i t s contemporary though ambiguous d e f in it io n in r e la tio n to the Indonesian Republic.
While the young HBIX won c r e d i b i l i t y in c ir c le s o f c o n f lic t in g in te re s t in Yogyakarta, assisted no doubt by the dramatic recapture of the town in 1949 a f t e r the Dutch had retaken i t , his ensuing status in republican c ir c le s paradoxically threatened to undermine the bases of
his local power. Vice-President of the Republic from 1973-789 and increasingly away from Yogyakarta, he handed over his re s p o n s ib ilitie s in the Special Region o f Yogyakarta to his subordinate; only in August 1983 did he s t a r t to show signs o f resuming his f u l l r e s p o n s ib ilitie s at home. A recent marriage to a non-Javanese divorcee, guaranteed to a lien ate the t i g h t l y - k n i t Yogyakartan aristocra cy ( t i g h t l y - k n i t in the face o f such behaviour) has generated c r it ic is m in the palace and the town. I t is his absence above a l l which creates a diminution of his c r e d i b i l i t y (implied in the Javanese term s e k t i , a vexed term discussed l a t e r ) . This d is a ffe c tio n is f u r th e r exacerbated by confusion about the succession, a moot point as the Sultan is in his mid-seventies, and
concomitantly, the fa te of the palace b u ild in g s , the upkeep o f which todaywreaks b i t t e r s t r i f e w ith in the fam ily ( sentana-dai&m) and personnel of the palace, who indeed might also be concerned about t h e i r futu re employment and sta tu s. D is s a tis fa c tio n with the possible h e ir does not ease the s itu a tio n . 7 As f o r maintenance, the thousands o f to u r is ts
who tramp through the palace weekly, charged Rp 100 i f Indonesian, Rp 200 i f fo re ig n , are f a i l i n g to provide the necessary cash, a lack which is speculated on darkly by personnel outside o f the palace section
responsible f o r tourism.
A word about the hierarchy o f palace o f f i c i a l s is necessary here.
Abdidalem are people who work f o r the Sultan f o r a wage. The s itu a tio n before Independence was o f a t r i p a r t i t e hierarchy, the jaba (outside) ( p&patihan) o f f i c i a l s working in the K^patihan ( m in is tr y ) , and the inner (j £ r o ) o f f i c i a l s working w ith in the kra ton: these used to be classed in three groups or golongan: bedhaya (see below), p r a j u r i t (s o ld ie r s ) , and punakawan (attendants). Today they are a l l punakawan, and divided
3 1
in to th ir te e n sections which deal with d if f e r e n t aspects o f palace adm inistration and a c t i v i t i e s . O f f ic ia ls now as form erly are e ith e r palace kin or local people who have an in te re s t in tr a d it io n s and who are already r e tir e d from t h e i r previous employment. For example, one dancer was re cruite d in the 1920s f o r his s k i l l as a p a in te r a t j a j a r level - he had to adorn the p i l l a r s and chronograms in the palace, and on becoming involved in dance, was made an abdidalem bedhaya.
The hierarchy, b r i e f l y , has as i t s lowest rank the unlettered and unpaid apprentices (magang) ; next come j a j a r s , and then b£k&1, lu r a h , wffdana, r i y a , b u p a ti. There are names which apply both to professional and hie rarch ical rankings, higher ranks having names ending in -mardawa, -negara, - d in in g r a t, e tc. Under HBVIII there were eight thousand such o f f i c i a l s ( i t is not clea r whether th is fig u re included the s o ld ie rs , who by the mid-twentieth century had been incorporated in to the Dutch army, K onin klijk Netherlands Indisch Leger (KNIL) fMochtar 1982:43])- much to the i r r i t a t i o n o f the palace, which was responsible f o r t h e ir housing and upkeep. Today the only soldiers in the palace are e ith e r in other jobs, or volunteers f o r palace ceremonies.
Today the palace has approximately 1,371 abdidalem - the d is t in c t io n between in and out is la rg e ly void, as the Kepatihan is now a State and not a palace-controlled sphere; but there are s t i l l o f f i c i a l s outside the palace: such as the keepers of the keys in ceremonial site s such as caves, the south coast, and royal bu rial grounds. As w i l l be seen la t e r , to be an abdidalem implies various a f f i l i a t i o n s and shared in te re s ts , and generates an important network w ith in Yogyakarta.
i i i ) Palace Dance Resources
The dance p ractice in the Kasultanan palace is closely tie d to the foundation o f Yogyakarta in 1755, and in view of th is modernity, the notion o f a t r a d it io n based on a long-established con tin u ity,sho u ld be viewed as contingent, and subject to d if f e r e n t accounts. The conditions and conventions o f performance also altered from Sultan to Sultan.
Although palace forms such as Bedhaya, S rim pi, and the idea of
male fig h tin g dances (B£ksan) were taken over from the palace in Surakarta, these forms have been restructured so r a d ic a lly , not only in s ty le but also in t h e i r technical terminology, th a t the sameness in t h e i r names only belies the d iffe ren ce in t h e i r p ra ctice . Id e o lo g ic a lly Yogyakarta
renounces the idea o f c o n tin u ity from Surakarta. Surakarta stands f o r a decadence only a few generations deep, and the dance as established
in the new state o f Yogyakarta aspires to a c o n tin u ity with the old Mataram t r a d i t i o n , before the f a i l u r e of leadership and other weaknesses
which undermined the p u r ity and rigo u r of the old court centre.
In order to provide a perspective f o r the palace associations which e x is t today, i t is necessary to re fe r to the s itu a tio n under the reign of HBVIII (AD 1921-1939) to make clea rer the changes which have occurred under the present incumbent.
In HBVI111s re ig n, dancers in the palace were drawn from the various ranks ( s e n io r ity and professional) o f court o f f i c i a l s . Male performers were often s o ld ie rs , p a r t ic u la r ly from the Nyutra corps (formerly the
Sultan's bodyguard), but the most p rivile g ed group, closest to the ear of the Sultan (and reputedly the most handsome!) were the male abdidalem bedhaya who, when s t i l l young, would have performed the Bedhaya Semang dance on occasions u n t il 1914. Some sources suggest th a t the practice o f having male bedhaya started under HBV (S oerjadiningrat n . d . ) ; others, under HBII (Raffles 1978).
2 3
Female dancers were not classed as a d i s t i n c t group, but were recruite d to t r a in in Bedhaya and Srimpi. This d i f f e r s from the practice in Surakarta where the bedhaya were a hereditary professional group w ith in the palace, and the srimpi were often related to the Susuhunan. q The s ix t y Yogyakartan trainees liv e d in the female
quarters ( keputren) o f the palace, and trained d a ily . One informant said th a t she started to t r a in when she was seven years o ld , recruited as an apprentice (magang) . Once fu lly - f le d g e d , she moved in to the female quarters and was given a l e t t e r ( s&rat k&kancingan) confirming her status and her new name. She may be understood to be c h a r a c te r is tic , the daughter o f a high-ranking palace o f f i c i a l who was himself active in music and dance. She is also c h a ra c te ris tic in having made a grand marriage to a brother o f the present Sultan. At th is p o in t, a bedhaya- srimpi would cease to appear in performance, though she might continue to t r a in other dancers, i f she was considered capable of teaching. I t was the male dance teachers, however, who made the selection o f dancers f o r performances; informants estimated tha t such o f f i c i a l s would be paid between 30 DF1. and 150 DF1. ( gulden) per month, depending on t h e ir o f f i c i a l ranking.
This does not f i t the commonly held idea o f palace dancers being the wives and daughters of the Sultan, although his grand-daughters and nieces often trained as dancers - in f a c t a l l o f HBVIII's children were trained in dancing as pa rt of t h e i r education. In 1938 one of the main dancers in the Bedhaya was a wife of the Sultan: more l i k e l y an
' u n o f f i c i a l ' w ife ( s ^ l i r : concubine), than the Queen ( p^rm aisuri) or secondary wife ( garwa ampeyan). Although bedhaya also had in the past duties to w ait on the n o b i l i t y at ceremonies, and to bear the kingly
Under HBVIII there was no special Arts Section as there is today:
the musicians formed a group termed golongan kanca wiyoga (group o f singer fr ie n d s ) , reckoned to have about three hundred members; today there are some ninety musicians. Under HBVIII dancers were recruited from throughout the palace (and in some cases, throughout the lan d ), the best being appointed to the Nyutra corps. The s ix t y bedhaya dancers were not ranked as a group as such, though they had contractual le t t e r s when they f u l f i l l e d t h e i r apprenticeship. The palace did have a (male) dance d ir e c to r , who would be s k ille d in music as well as dance - unlike many dancers, some o f whom today s t i l l maintain th a t they have t i n ears and no sense o f tune. There were about f o r t y dance teachers under HBVIII, the most esteemed (and given the t i t l e of empu) being Prince Brongtodiningrat.
Today KHP Kridha Mardawa, the Arts Section set up under HBIX (Lindsay 1984 o ffe rs an e a r lie r date) to t a ls about two hundred s t a f f , although none of the performers and teachers are f u l l - t i m e as such.
Given th is decrease in numbers, i t is necessary to ask what the palace dance resources are today, and who produce and perform them?
By way of answer, i t w i l l help i f the d if f e r e n t dance forms are introduced, with d e ta ils o f the occasions on which they were formerly performed, and what happens today.
Contrary to appearances, Yogyakartan palace forms are strenuous, the ideal being the dissim ulation of e f f o r t and the creation of an impression of easy c o n tro l. A ll but two palace forms included f ig h t in g sequences
2 5
( perang) , and are f o r groups (see i l l u s t r a t i o n s 1-12). The two
exceptions are more recent a d d itio n s , but are no less 'palace' f o r th a t.
Palace dancing is an event which involves not only a dancer and dance movement, but also singers (male and female), musicians, conventional costumes and make-up, formalised introductions ( kandha) , formalised dialogues (antawacana) , and occasionally the burning o f incense. The The dance event therefore is not simply a visual form, but one with a multi-dimension sensual appeal.
■ Forms today performed by women are fo llo w s. 10 Bedhaya, the most complex and esteemed form, t y p i c a l ly involves nine dancers. The f u l l composition has an abstract part where the formations are ascribed a philosophical s ig n ific a n c e , and a story p a rt, in Yogyakarta usually on the theme o f c o n f l i c t , although love is also possible. Stories may be drawn from the Mahabharata, Javanese chronicles ( babad) , o r , as they
most frequently are today, from the Menak cycle, deriving from the Islamic Hikayat Amir Hamzah which came to Java from Malaya: the Kitab Rengganis is the most popular section (Poerbatjaraka 1952). However, i t w i l l be shown l a t e r th a t the re la tio n o f the story to the dance is not as might be expected.
Bedhaya is endowed with sacred associations and varied myths of o r ig in , which l i n k i t to the mystical marriage of Sultan Agung, t h ir d r u le r of the Maratam kingdom o f Central Java (founded in the la te sixteenth century) to the Queen of the South Sea, Kangjeng Ratu Kidul
(Poerbatjaraka 1962; Jordaan 1984). In Surakarta i t is the Bedhaya Ketawang which is understood to be the f i r s t Bedhaya; o f th is dance and the Yogyakartan version, the Bedhaya S&nang, more w i l l be said la te r .
S rim pij a simpler form, uses fo u r dancers (except Srimpi R^nggawati, which uses f i v e ) , representing a pair of protagonists who come to
blows - in du plicate . The themes are as f o r Bedhaya. Srimpi is associated with less grand occasions than Bedhaya, and i t s more
informal use would have made i t permissible f o r the daughters o f the Sultan to perform i t . I t is not usually performed by males. However, one source suggests th a t a male Srimpi did take place, the dancers in women's c lo th in g , dancing an archery f i g h t , and referred to as kagungan dalem r in g g it Srimpi (Platen Album No.29: p i . 41). Neither was i t subject to such r e s t r ic t io n s as the Bedhaya, although both forms today s t i l l tend to be regarded as palace heirlooms ( pusaka dal£m) .
A fte r 1928, females were also seen in Wayang Wong (dance drama, see below), and in the 1930s were allowed to perform the Golek (but in both cases outside the palace). This dance was f i r s t devised
outside the palace, and used to close the Langendriya (dance opera, see below) in the same way th a t a wooden rod puppet ( golek) closes the shadow play. As w i l l be discussed, the Golek is considered to be
dangerously near the boundaries of what distinguishes palace practice from th a t of outside, and i t is often disparaged as being too much l ik e
the performance of professional dancer p r o s titu te s .
Palace forms are not s t a t i c , however. Since coming to the throne,
\j 11
HBIX has commissioned not only new Bedhaya forms, but also a new dance drama, Golek Menak, based on sto rie s and themes from the Menak cycles and the movement of the wooden golek puppets, mentioned above. For reasons which w i l l become clea r l a t e r , the complete Golek Menak has not become established. An experimental show took place in the palace before the declaration of independence. A fragment was done in the
Kepatihan between 1945 and 1949 when i t was " ' s t i l l war" f o r the "'Tiga Negara"( ‘ Three S tate s1) ceremony, according to the form's f i r s t
choreographer, KRT W irodiprodjo, But since then, apart from
performances of fragments outside the palace (in 1960, 1972, 1974, and 1978 by the 'branch' o f the palace arts section, now SiSwa Among B^ksa), the form is normally presented as a female fig h t in g duet. I t may be id e n tifie d by the angular and s t i f f movements of neck and hands compared to the usual palace s t y le ; i t is also the only form in which females f i g h t with lances.
Wayang Wong (R inggit Tiyang k .) is a ttrib u te d to the f i r s t Sultan, and is thus a s p e c if ic a lly Yogyakartan form. This dance drama is
modelled on the shadow th e a tre , which is re fle c te d in i t s characterisation and p lo ts , in Yogyakarta taken mostly from the Mahabharata, although HBVI11, the most enthu siastic of dance producers, did create hybrid plots combining features from the Mahabharata and Ramayana.
As w i l l become c le a r, any use of Indian epics in Java re s u lts in something more Javanese than Indian. I t is evident from photographs from the nineteenth century (Groneman 1899) th a t the form was i n i t i a l l y more processual than dramatic, closer in e ffe c t to the ceremonial
parades o f s o ld ie ry in the Gareb^g ceremonies which, a t the Prophet Mohammad's b irth d a y , were often occasions f o r Wayang Wong - than what
12 \j
one sees today. The form also may be related to the Gareb^g ceremonies, which in t h e i r o rig in a l practice were the times when the palace k in , often brothers to the Sultan, who ruled over the ou tlying t e r r i t o r i e s (mancanegara) u n t il the confiscation o f these in the mid
nineteenth century, would be required to come to court and present t h e i r accounts and themselves to the Sultan. This ceremony would thus
function as a r i t e o f incorporation. I t is analogous, then, to the subject matter o f the dance drama, th a t of land disputes and challenged a u th o r itie s , and to i t s conclusion, in which, l i k e .the la s t scene ( adegan)
in the shadow play as the l i g h t breaks in the east, everyone is put back in t h e i r r ig h t place, th a t i s , in t h e i r own t e r r i t o r i e s . In the dance drama, th is moment used to come at midnight (some say eleven o 'clock at night) as the performance under HBVIII would s t a r t at dawn (about six o'clo ck in the morning) and l a s t f o r eighteen hours, over three or fou r days (Suryobrongto 1982). HBVIII was responsible not only f o r
developing the movements and costumes, but also f o r the educative
m ora list ethos o f the dance drama. Up to fou r hundred dancers, drawn, as noted from the sold ie ry and other o f f i c i a l s , and also from palace k in , would be involved in one production, not only f o r show, but also as part o f t h e i r education and tr a in in g . These po tential dancers would be ranked in three levels (Cina, Encik, Gupermen), and only those in the top rank (Gupermen) would perform in these events. In HBVIII's reign birthdays and enthronements would be the occasion f o r performance, with an extra large production f o r the Sultan's tumbuk, eighth of the e ig h t- year windu-cycle birthdays - as was the case in 1934, when HBVIII was
s ix t y - f o u r . Today the dance drama is done only in fragments, although the occasions remain the same - with Indonesian independence
commemorations being added.
The Wayang Wong above a l l other forms was the k in g 's prerogative ( kagungan dalem: belonging to the house) and has been treated as the state r i t u a l (Soedarsono 1984). Outside the palace a lte rn a tiv e dramas sprang up now considered ' c l a s s i c a l ' : Langendriya ('pleasures of the h e a rt') was created in 1878 by a son o f HBII, RT Purwadiningrat, was a
2 9
dance opera peformed in squatting po s itio n s , which much pleased the Crown Prince Mangkubumi. I t was based on stories from the Damar Wulan re p e rto ire , previously used in the wayang k l i t i k theatre ( f l a t wooden puppets with moveable lea ther arms f o r the high ch a racters), and developed as an a ll-fe m a le performance in the p rin ce ly Mangkun^garan palace in Surakarta, a good example o f c u ltu ra l influence between the two r iv a l towns. Lang^n Madrawanara springs from the above, but uses
sto ries from the Ramayapa, hence i t s t i t l e 'many monkeys', and was a creation o f the c h ie f m in is te r o f Yogyakarta Danur^ja VII c irca 1890;
and the lesser known Langen Wiraga, devised by his predecessor Danureja VI, and now in abeyance, used themes from Panji cycles (Suharto 1982:114).
A generic dance form denoting f ig h ts is Beksan, t r a d i t i o n a l l y between men but no longer so, as I have already suggested.
Beksan Lawung (or Trunajaya) is the grandest of Yogyakarta's Bbksan, showing lance ( lawung) fig h ts between members of the d if f e r e n t m i l i t a r y ranks, the la rg e s t version using t h ir t y - t w o dancers. Some see in th is form
the influence o f the tournaments (watangan) held in town squares a ll over the P r in c ip a lit y on Mondays, and at the palace on Saturdays. This dance was formerly reserved f o r royal marriage r i t e s , and performed in the compound o f the c h ie f m in is te r, sometimes representing the Sultan, u n t il 1939 (Panitya-Peringatan Kota Jogjakarta Dua Ratus Tahun 1956).
Beksan Etheng, l i k e Lawung, was a ttrib u te d to HBI (though the f i r s t Sultan of Kartasura is also a tt rib u te d with the creation (Panitya- Peringatan Kota Jogjakarta Dua Ratus Tahun 1956:140), and shows l i f e in the barracks, with a c o c k -fig h t and gambling; a n a rra tiv e and humourous dialogue is provided by a chorus.
A f in a l form f o r males, analogous to the female Golek in i t s theme and performance by one dancer, is Klana. Danced unmasked in Yogyakarta according to convention, th is dance has been understood to come from an older mask t r a d i t i o n ( topeng)13
These are the main forms associated with the palace and performed w ith in i t s precincts to th is day. However, i t is rare f o r these to occur as they would formerly in the largest palace p a v ilio n , the Bangsal K&ncana (Golden P a vilion , see i l l u s t r a t i o n 63), with i t s hipped ro o f, marble f l o o r , and rows o f slender ornamented p i l l a r s , leading to the concealed re posito ry of palace heirlooms, consisting of sacred weaponry and other re g a lia . Patterns o f performance changed fo llo w in g the Japanese occupation (1942-45), and i t also remains unclear whether much dancing occurred at a l l during the s t r i f e - f i l l e d times which followed*
A fragment of Wayang Wong was performed a f t e r the accession o f HBIX (Suryobrongto 1981:47), and one a u th o rity suggests th a t th is was before the declaration of independence in 1945 (Soedarsono 1984:33). However, the grand productions of Wayang Wong and conventional t r a in in g and
performance in the palace in general may be said to have come to an end on the demise o f HBVIII in 1939.
Some might query the extent to which the palace maintains any purchase on the dance forms which i t o r ig in a lly sponsored. There are many who feel gloomy about the present s itu a tio n , claiming th a t dance has come down to ea rth, or in the local idiom, to ja n aloka, world o f men, and has lo s t the more elevated supra-mundane associations i t had under HBVIII, th a t i t has become secularised, reduced to something ordinary.
Indeed, some see the decline as having set in when an academy, the Kridha B^ksa Wirama, was established outside the palace, some say as a
3 1
re s u lt of the lethargy o f HBVIII fo llo w in g the death o f the Crown Prince in 1913, which led to a s t u l t i f i c a t i o n in palace performance; others th a t i t was a move towards modernity (and nationalism) by some of the princes. The m a jo rity o f those people termed 'palace dance teachers' today were tra ined hbre. . Purists o f the older generation argue th a t such an a t t r ib u t io n should not be used f o r anyone except those who taught before 1939 in the palace. Even a 'palace dancer', they claim, should have the q u a lif ic a t io n o f having performed a t le a st once in a f u ll- s c a le Wayang Wong; to have pa rticipa ted in a fragment, or to have been a golek is not enough.
In 1946, the f i r s t State organisation f o r classica l dance, Irama C itra , was established by Kridha B^ksa Wirama personnel, though the l a t t e r continued i t s own a c t i v i t i e s . In 1950, the Sultan instructed one o f his brothers to set up a branch of the palace Arts Section, some say due to a fe e lin g o f d is s a tis fa c tio n with the e f f o r t s of Kridha B^ksa Wirama to maintain the palace t r a d it io n s ; the branch continues today as Siswa Among B£ksa. While the establishment o f th is 'branch', as well as the patronage and sponsorship of numerous gam^lan ensembles and a school of shadow puppetry, Habiranda, may be seen as an attempt by the palace to express c o n tin u ity , i f in a d if f e r e n t way from
previously, i t should also be said th a t even i t s own Arts Section became a re c ip ie n t of a grant from the local PDK o f f ic e in 1983.
None the le s s , the palace continues to provide a venue f o r tr a in in g and performance which, in spite o f change over the past f o r t y years, is s t i l l considered to be the most prestigious arena, an exemplary centre o f excellence ( kautamaan) . Every dancer is f la t t e r e d to be in v ite d to dance in the palace. Such p a rtic ip a n ts are drawn from a l l the d if f e r e n t
venues where palace dancing is performed and taught in Yogyakarta today (see Table 1), and the palace s t i l l has the power to muster personnel f o r a l l aspects of production, as was' demonstrated at the ambitious 'three generations' production of a Wayang Wong fragment Bhisma Mahawira in 1981 (Wibowo 1981). The fa c t th a t th is production occurred in the Kepatihan and not inside the palace was explained to be due to l o g is t ic s . The Bangsal Kencana in the palace, while being extremely b e au tifu l and atmospheric, has a low roof and is darker and smaller than the p^ndhapa a t the Kepatihan, which is t r u l y splendid, painted white with touches of red and gold, illum inated by large
chandeliers - an altogether more glamorous venue than the Pag^laran, the northernmost b uilding in the palace which is now used f o r some
performances today, as we shall see. State receptions now are held at the Pakualaman, f o r reasons of se cu rity and organisation, p a r t ic u la r ly of parking, f a c i l i t i e s f o r which are somewhat re s tr ic te d in the Kasultanan,
There is s t i l l a fe e lin g among dancers th a t to perform in the palace is d if f e r e n t , "awesome" in one lady's words. Abdidal&n in the KHP
Kridha Mardawa spoke o f the dancers who perform and t r a in in the palace as being brought there " t o rip e n ". Of a l l conservatories in Yogyakarta, then, there remains the sense th a t the palace is the best. Although groups associated with dance may be so by reason o f being a ctive in government, such as the local branch o f the M in istry o f Education and Culture, whose head is the same prince who heads KHP Kridha Mardawa, and not by v ir tu e of being of the palace fa m ily , there remains a fe e lin g th a t palace dancing, even as i t becomes lab elle d 'c la s s ic a l' ( k la s ik B . I . ) e n ta ils the palace. As one palace grand-daughter put i t , "the source o f c la ssical dance is the kraton; even i f there are
