Islamic Dance Drama with Gamelan

Two distinguished dancers from Java, Indonesia, Wahyu Santoso Prabowo and Maharani Devi, will be leading student dancers and musicians in a performance of a Javanese dance drama based on Indonesian Islam. The elegant and refined dance movements will be accompanied by the traditional musical sounds of a full gamelan ensemble. Often lauded as the pinnacle of aesthetic achievement in Indonesia, Javanese dance is one of the world’s great classical dance forms. Gamelan music has been indispensable to the important Javanese rituals and cultural forms throughout the history. The glittering cast bronze instruments of the gamelan ensemble match every detail of the dancing with elaborate musical responses embedding ritualistic power. This performance is sponsored by the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, the Residential College, Center for World Performance Studies, Literature, Science and the Arts and the School of Music, Theater & Dance.