It takes the average reader 8 hours and 8 minutes to read WAYANG WONG by R.M. Soedarsono
Assuming a reading speed of 250 words per minute. Learn more
Preface I have been teaching the history of performing arts and Javanese dance, Yogyakarta style, for twenty years, and there have always been two features of this history that made me think and rethink: (1) wayang wong was never performed outside the palace’s walls until the first quarter of the twentieth century, becase it was considered a pusaka (sacred heiloom): and (2) wayang wong performances were always put on the Tratag Bangsal Kĕncana stage and started at dawn. Numerous ex-wayang wong dancers of the Yogyakarta court gave me the same answers to my questions about hese facts. They said that: (1) wayang wong was a pusaka because it was created by Sultan Hamĕngkubuwana I; and (2) wayang wong performances we put on stage at the dawn of the day because it was karsa-Dalĕm, the Sultan’s will. In my opinion, there must be something particularly significant behind the creation of wayang wong, because the Surakarta court never performed this dance genre, and I realized that to obtain satisfactory answers to these questions I would have to do extensive research on this subject. In August, 1977, when I participated in the World Music Congress at Berkeley, I met Professor Judith Becker. On onve occasion I taled with her concerning the possibility of my pursuin a Ph.D. degree at the University of Michigan with a dissertation topic, “Wayang Wong”. She responded wholeheartedly and, without any delay, made a long distance call to her husband, Professor Alton L. Becker. Both of them became my teachers, advisors and co-chairmen. After my return from Berkeley I started to do research on some aspects of wayang wong. In 1980 I began my course work in Southeast Asian Studies at the University of Michigan emphasizing three areas of study: (1) Southeast Asian Performance Traditions; (2) Southeast Asian History; and (3) Southeast Asian Literature. With the assistance of the Asian Cultural Council I continued my research at the Asia Society and the Library of Performing Arts in New York. There I scrutinized wayang wong films, especially the one of the lakon Mintaraga made by Mr. Tassilo Adam in 1926. Although the film is very choppy, it gave me priceless information about he magnificent production and also about the large audience of kawula-Dalĕm, the Sultan’s subjects. Who witnessed the perfor-mance. With the assistance of the Asian Cultural Council, the Ford Foundation and the University of Michigan I returned to Java during the summer of 1981 to continue by research at the Yogya-karta court libraries. The Sanabudaya Museum, and to interview numerous ex-wayang wong dancers. From these activities the first evidence for my hypothesis emerged, i.e., that wayang wong was a state ritual and not just a mere entertainment in the Yogyakarta court. By reading numerous wayang wong texts –Sĕrat Kandha and Sĕrat Pocapan, all in Javanese handwriting--, manuscripts about he Yogyakarta’s pusakas, and by analysing the conception of kingship of Mataram, I obtainded enough data to confirm my hypothesis further. It became apparent to me that wayang wong was created by Sultan Hamĕngkubuwana I in the late 1970’s as a revival of the Old javanese wayang wang. Photographs play a significant role in this work, since visual information about this dance drama gives us a clear image of numerous scenes. With the exception of figures nos. 1317, 69 and 84 all the photographs and pictures are from my own collection and drawing. Photographs are, nevertheless, motionless shots of dance movement and, therefore, cannot distinguish the movements of one character from another. Hence I have felt it necessary to put the basic movements of the twenty-one wayang wong types of character in Labanotation.
WAYANG WONG by R.M. Soedarsono is 483 pages long, and a total of 122,199 words.
This makes it 163% the length of the average book. It also has 149% more words than the average book.
The average oral reading speed is 183 words per minute. This means it takes 11 hours and 7 minutes to read WAYANG WONG aloud.
WAYANG WONG is suitable for students ages 12 and up.
Note that there may be other factors that effect this rating besides length that are not factored in on this page. This may include things like complex language or sensitive topics not suitable for students of certain ages.
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