INTRODUCTION
This is an introduction by Felicia Hughes-Freeland to Indonesian performance traditions. The examples will include longer-established living traditions and new traditions.
In Southeast Asia, performance used to be part of ritual. It formed part of offerings to the spirits, for prayers for protection and as thank offerings, and was therefore a normal part of the ceremonial aspect of social exchange. In some cases dancing was done to build up energy and special powers before going into battle. War dances, or dances between two opposing teams, are a dominant feature across the region, and also reflect the concern with dual symbolic classifications. Even today, dancing tends to be formal not social dancing.
Ritual and ceremonial performance have histories of different depths, going back to colonial and pre-colonial pasts. The animistic basis of much Southeast Asian performance has been influenced by the global religions that have come into the region, especially Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity. These pasts are to a certain extent constructed, to back up contemporary identity.
They involve the participation of the community. There is not simply an audience and a professional group of performers. Performance embodies social identity. It represents social values physically -- even by presenting grotesque distortions: the bizarre serves to draw the line between what is normal, and what is monstrous.
Nowadays, embodied performances play a crucial role in representing national identity: it makes real national communities which Benedict Anderson has referred to as 'imagined communities' (1983): but in performance, we have embodied communities. National identity is something which needs to be represented internally. Most Southeast Asian states are plural: ie they are made up of ethnically and religiously diverse populations. From the point of view of the State, performance has a role in creating a sense of cultural cohesion. Embodied performance is also used to represent 'culture' in different ways: to tourists visiting the region from outside, or travelling within it, and as a means of diplomacy, with troupes being sent overseas to represent the nation state.
First, let's experience some examples of living traditions with longer histories. These examples are all "official culture". However, like the "new" examples, they are often given a sense of history which is older or more uncertain than the facts suggest. In other words, they are mythologised. However, living traditions are also invented traditions, and the pasts they are given are often more mythological than historic. They are mythologised to suit those in power. National development, local and national identities, all bear on performance.
In the final analysis, we need to consider performance in relation to two issues. The representation of national identity and the ethnic differences within the state, and social control.
The questions which arise in relation to these issues are