Instruction classes are open to visitors and are held in several princely homes in Yogyakarta and Surakarta as well as in the courts (kraton) themselves.
Two well-known institutions in Yogyakarta are the Krido Bekso Wiromo and the Mardawa Budoyo dance schools. Mardawa Budoyo has at the time of this writing, four performances a week of the Ramayana ballet in Yogya, court style, each performance presenting a different episode of the story.
The Solonese princely court of Mangkunegaran is famed or its performances of langendriyan, which combines opera and dance based on stories from the (East) Janavese panji folk legends.
Javanese Ballet
There are two leading names in staging spectacular traditional dance ballets on a regular basis. One is the Prambanan open air stage near Yogyakarta, where, between June and October during nights of the full moon, performances are given of the Ramayana ballets. The other one, approximately around the same time, performance of classical Javanese ballets are held on the Candra Wilwatika open air stage at Pandaan in East Java, with stories taken from the popular East Javanese folk legends. In both case the setting accentuated the dramas. The first case is the Shivaite Prambanan temple complex and the volcano Merapi, and the second is the distant contours of volcanoes.
Wayang Wong
The Wayang Wong is a popular of theatrical dance drama taking its repertoire either the Mahabharata or Ramayana. This kind of theatre, more folk than classic, places more stress on the plot, which unfolds through long dialogues, rather than on dance.
It is often performed nightly at the People's Recreation Park (THRs) found in Java's big cities and Panca Murthi in Jakarta. A famed troupe is that which performs at the Sri Wedari recreation park in Solo (Surakarta).
Ketoprak
An offshoot of the wayang wong theatre, Ketoprak is the contemporary popular version of dance drama which takes its stories from popular folk legends and history rather than from the classic epics. Costumes, dialogues and dance, are much simpler than those at the wayang wong.
Next page