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Tlatah Bocah festival showcases traditional, contemporary arts by children
Annual art and cultural event Tlatah Bocah showcased diverse traditional and contemporary arts of children.
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The Tlatah Bocah festival showcased diverse traditional and contemporary arts by children. (JP/Stefanus Ajie)
T
he annual art and cultural event Tlatah Bocah was held on Oct. 27-28 in Sanggar Bangun Budaya, Duren village, Magelang, Central Java.
It showcased the diverse traditional and contemporary arts by children from various art centers located on Mount Merapi's slopes. This year’s performers and most of the spectators were local kids, along with guest performers from Kendal, Jombang, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Surakarta and Jakarta. International artists from Japan and Brazil also participated in the event.
Highlighted performances included traditional dances originating from Mt. Merapi, such as the Topeng Ireng (the black mask), Jathilan and Topeng Buto (the giant's mask). Presented in a playful and lively manner, they are regarded as different from kraton (palace) dances, which come with sets of rules. Other dances performed in the event included the Singo Barong, Basaba, Ngremo and Ludruk.
Read also: Jakpost guide to recreational places for children
Nontraditional performances such as pantomime and puppet theater shows were presented by Badala from East Java and Papermoon from Yogyakarta. Visitors could also engage in art workshops that provided paper-mask making, T-shirt painting and shibori (Japanese dye technique) courses.
Gunawan Julianto, initiator of Tlatah Bocah, said that in the event children were encouraged to learn to collaborate in diversity. “Tlatah Bocah should remind parents that children’s lives are supposed to be filled with play and learning in happiness,” he said. (wng)
