W

hen I visited Bali as a young child some years ago, I watched a live traditional Indonesian dance performance based on Ramayana. I did not notice then how similar some of the movements were to Indian classical dances. Now however, being a student of classical Indian dance, I realize that there are some similarities.

When I learned a bit about Indonesian history in my Pancasila classes in school, I came to know that some South Indian kingdoms ruled over in Indonesia in the past, and logically there must have been some impact of Indian culture that has influenced Indonesia. My curiosity led me to do research and find that traditional Indonesian dance has indeed been influenced by classical Indian dance. India and Indonesia have been trading partners and their interaction goes back about 20 centuries.

Both Indian and Indonesian dances depict the common theme of religion. The famous wayang kulit shadow puppet dance has been performed in Indonesia for about 2,000 years and the stories that are shown could plausibly have been brought in due to connections with South India. Tales from the Indian epics Mahabharata, Ramayana and Panji cycle are frequently used in this puppet art form.

Mahabharata and Ramayana are popular Indian television serials in Indonesia today. Thus, with the spread of the Hindu religion and culture in Indonesia thousands of years ago, Indonesian dances today manifest their representations in various movements and stories common to both countries.

The popular chau (masked dance) dance of Orissa has been compared to the topeng (masked dance) of Indonesia due to their similarities. The topeng dance is performed to music played on an instrument called the kendhang which is quite similar to the pakhawaj used in many classical Indian dances.

Like classical Indian dance, classical Indonesian dancers also use gestures called mudra.

However, classical Indonesian dances do not emphasize the usage of mudra, but rather the elegance of movements, which are slow and graceful, such as the Javanese court dance. Balinese dances, on the other hand, are more energetic and expressive.

Classical Indonesian dances are used on many occasions, such as some sacred dances that are only to be performed in temples to welcome important guests, such as priests, or only to be performed in palaces.

Classical Indian dances are also performed in temples and palace courts, but may also be performed anywhere else just for the purpose of entertainment.

 Lovers of dance and music might be able to pinpoint the cross-cultural connections between dance forms of different countries, but most are lost in the mists of time.

Ultimately, the purpose of all forms of dance and music is to entertain and while they are universal art forms whose origins cannot always be traced, they are certainly enjoyed by everyone.

Vani Kotnala
Jakarta