The quest of finding the self in the Bedhaya: Unravelling the psychological significance of the Javanese sacred dance

The Bedhaya is the avant-garde of Yogyakarta and Surakarta (Java, Indonesia) court dance. This classical dance replete with Javanese symbols, spirituality and cultural values embedded in its aesthetic elements. Furthermore, the Bedhaya was created not for entertainment but rather as a meditative medium that would allow individuals to gain wisdom and higher consciousness. These noble characteristics of the dance suggest that the Bedhaya has psychological purposes for the performers and the spectators. We may gain insight into the process of attaining mental growth through studying the embodied wisdom and aesthetic ideal of the Bedhaya, which reflects the development of the human’s psyche. Therefore, the author proposes an interpretation of Bedhaya’s underlying symbolism, aesthetic experience, and potential as means of psychological growth. The paper’s primary argument is delivered by studying a set of theoretical ideas that present Bedhaya as a distinguished aesthetic with psychological capacities. Further, art as an embodiment of cultural wisdom and ethics is also discussed by connecting Bedhaya and other artistic forms drawn from varied cultures.

Pelestarian Budaya dalam Tari Wali Krama Murwa pada Tradisi Usaba Sambah di Desa Pesedahan Karangasem

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pelestarian budaya yang dilakukan oleh masyarakat desa Pesedahan melalui tari wali krama murwa dalam tradisi usaba samba. Metode kualitatif dengan pendekatan etnografi melalui teknik observasi, wawancara dan dokumentasi. Hasil penelitian menjelaskan bahwa tari wali merupakan tarian sakral yang berfungsi sebagai pelaksana upacara yadnya dan wajib ditarikan oleh penduduk asli setempat (krama murwa), tarian ini memiliki tiga bentuk yaitu Tari Pendet Lanang, Tari Pendet Tari Istri, dan Tari Rejang Lilit. Ketiga tarian ini memiliki makna untuk menyenangkan Ida Betara atau Hyang Kuasa (Tuhan) agar dapat memberikan berkah kemakmuran bagi masyarakat setempat. This study aims to determine the cultural preservation carried out by the Pesedahan village community through the wali krama murwa dance in the usaba samba tradition. Qualitative method with an ethnographic approach through observation, interviews and documentation techniques. The results of the study explain that the wali dance is a sacred dance that functions as an executor of the Yadnya ceremony and must be danced by the local natives (krama murwa), this dance has three forms, namely the Pendet Lanang Dance, the Pendet Istri Dance and the Rejang Lilit Dance. These three dances have a meaning to please Ida Betara or Hyang Power (God) in order to give the blessing of prosperity to the local community.

Circle Dance and Dance Therapy for Talented Children with Disadvantages and Special Needs

At the meeting points of different cultures, a unique quality is born. That is what we can experience when sacred round dance, dance therapy, and talent development meet and overlap. The study aims to present a project operated by the Budapest 10th district Educational Consultant Team with the support of the Hungarian National Talent Program. The program, named Square-Dance-Theatre-Scene, was started as an experiment, integrating 12–14-year-old students, including psychologists, drama experts, art therapists, dance therapists, and dance teachers. In the paper, a sacred dance therapeutic workshop is described and analyzed, which was a part of this broader talent management program. The workshop was preceded by an outline of the underlying tripartite theoretical background: The sacred dance workshop’s group dynamics are analyzed with dance and movement therapy methods. The archaic roots of sacred dance related to the therapeutic approach are also displayed. Finally, a SWOT-type summary of the work process is given, including both the project’s strengths and weaknesses.

Tari Baris Babuang pada Upacara Pegingsiran Jro Pingit di Desa Pengotan

Bali is one of the islands that is very well known to foreign countries. Besides being famous for its natural beauty it is also known by the nickname of the Thousand Temples. It is known that the Balinese are usually inseparable from the sacred arts which are believed to complement the ceremony. Meanwhile in the village of Pengotan has a sacred dance that is the Baris Babuang dance. Baris Babuang is one element of universal culture that is part of the arts. Baris Babuang dance is danced by carrying banana fronds which can also be called the papah biu war. This research focuses on two things, namely the Babuang Baris Dance Function at the Pegingsiran Jro Pingit ceremony in Pengotan Village and the Meaning of the Babuang Baris Dance at the Pegingsiran Jro Pingit ceremony in Pengotan Village. The purpose and objective of this research is to find out the function and meaning of the implementation of the Babuang Baris Dance at the Jro Pingit ceremony. Then the authors use the Functional Theory of B. Malinowski and the ceremonial theory of William Robertson Smith to help strip the results of the research. This study uses qualitative methods to describe an event or phenomenon that occurs in a research subject such as behavior, perception, motivational action holistically and analyzed by collecting data that has previously been recorded besides audio visual recording, then recorded again in the recapitulation sheet then processed in the form of scientific writing. The results of this study state that, the function of Babuang Row Dance in relation to public trust, functions as a reinforcement of solidarity between citizens and the meaning of Babuang Row Dance to invoke safety, the meaning of kinship meaning the symbol of harmonization.

Mitologi Representation Dewa Indra in Pandage War at Usaba Waste Ceremony in the Tenganan Traditional Village Pegringsingan Manggis, Karangasem, Bali (Social Theological Perspective)

Pandan war is one of the important ceremonies and obligatory ceremonies called Usaba Sambah in the people of Tenganan Pegringsingan to God in manifestation as Dewa Indra. To raise three problems, namely (1) the form of pandan war , (2)axiology of theology social of pandan war, and (3) the implications of pandan war.This study carried out qualitatively, so that data analysis was carried out in a qualitative and interpretative descriptive manner. By using research methods, such as participatory observation, interviews, literature studies, and documentation studies. The results showed that: (1) The process of pandan war was one of the most important and obligatory parts of the religious ceremony in the Usaba Sambah ceremony in Tenganan Pegringsingan Village (2) The axiology of social theology in pandan war is (a) pandan war as a form of worship; (b) pandan war as a life learning process; (c) pandan war as a pattern of social interaction; (d) pandan war as a defense of religious traditions; and (e) the pandan war as a show of the ancient warrior knight. (3) the implication of pandan war in the usaba sambah ceremony is (a) increasing the śraddhā and the devotion of the peregraningan community; (b) fostering a sense of togetherness between low income communities; (c) strengthen in maintaining the local historical genius; (d) the interaction of communication between communities is established; (e) applying the value of ancestral heritage as a living foundation; and (f) pandan war as the development of cultural tourism destinations. The research findings are as follows. From the perspective of religious theory, the symbol system used in pandan war is maintained especially the concept of pingit (secret). The concept of pingit in pandan war is when the pesangkepan is not allowed to pray / spells known by anyone other than pemangku. In this case, it should only be known by the designated party only. From the perspective of the value theory, it was found that the pandanus war is a sacred dance of offerings, which should not be danced by others which is only carried out on pandanus war on the first day at Bale Petemu Kaja and not in any place. Based on symbolic interaction theory, a shift in meaning of pandan war arises from social interaction between local communities, shifting to global community interaction through warfare on the second day as a venue for tourism promotion in modern tourism contractions. There are other people (not the Tenganan people) who also participated in many pandan wars on the stage performance.

Ghost Dancers

This chapter considers the role of dance in the cult of the saints, tracing the evolution of dance vis-à-vis sanctity and cultic worship. For some saints, dancing became part of their iconic image. Within the context of saintly devotion, dance helped to induce conversion, animate miracles, and promote social cohesion. Insights from performance theory help conceptualize the connection between death and dancing bodies. The first section explores the cult, relics, and reliquary of Sainte Foy, who imbued sacred dance with a significance that was at once regional and international, religious and political. The second section examines the hagiographies of St. Francis of Assisi. Francis—as a prancing preacher, jongleur saint, and living phantom—authorized a new spirituality that diverged from mainstream monasticism, yet bore the mark of apostolic, authentic piety.

Romancing the Dance

This chapter addresses the relationship between religion and dance in popular, vernacular literature. While some scholars view secular and religious works as separate, unrelated phenomena, I demonstrate how medieval romances co-opted sacred dance motifs. In these texts, dance functioned as a ritual, deifying courtly love (including troubadour lyric) and conferring a sacred aura onto courtliness. The first section uses Guillaume de Lorris’s section of Le Roman de la Rose (The Romance of the Rose) to show how dance in romance championed aristocratic values (including the chivalry of medieval knights), the gift economy, and enchantment. The second section focuses on Jean de Meun’s section of Le Roman de la Rose. It shows how Jean co-opted the Rose’s dance content to critique the project of courtly love. The third section analyzes Dante’s poetry from the Paradiso (Paradise), in which the poeticization of dance enabled Dante to best express divine love.

Ringleaders of Redemption

In traditional thought and theology, Christianity tends to oppose dance. Conventional scholarship traces this controversy back to the Middle Ages. Throughout the medieval era, the Latin Church denounced and prohibited dancing in religious and secular realms, often aligning it with demonic intervention, lust, pride, and sacrilege. Historical sources, however, suggest that medieval dance was a complex and ambivalent phenomenon. During the High and Late Middle Ages, Western theologians, liturgists, and mystics not only tolerated dance, they transformed it into a dynamic component of religious thought and practice. This book investigates how dance became a legitimate form of devotion in Christian culture. Sacred dance functioned to gloss scripture, frame spiritual experience, and imagine the afterlife. Invoking numerous manuscript, primary, and visual sources (biblical commentaries, sermons, saints’ lives, ecclesiastical statutes, mystical treatises, vernacular literature, and iconography), this book highlights how medieval dance helped shape religious identity, social stratification, and human intention. Moreover, this book shows the political dimension of dance, which worked in the service of Christendom, conversion, and social cohesion. In sum, Ringleaders of Redemption reveals a long tradition of sacred dance in Christianity, one that the professionalization and secularization of Renaissance dance obscured, and one that the Reformation silenced and suppressed.