The Abstract

The Abstracts

The following abstracts are some of the lectures to be presented during the conference. 

Malay semantics does not describe dance in ways western society perceive dance in the western term of reference. Instead It may embody play, gambol, ritual, acts and other social-cultural events holistically as one wholesome entity. Hence, recapturing the essence, form and style of a given traditional dance entails reconstructions of structure, aesthetics and meaning. Research and reconstruction of traditional dances amongst selected Maritime-Malay Societies of insular Southeast Asia will be highlighted. Case studies on selected dances from the Sulu Seas and the Straits of Melaka will be illustrated as examples of appropriating Ethnochoreology in the research on traditional dances in this part of the Malay world.

Learning a dance imbeds a series or set of movements into the body. It establishes a style or technique in a mind-body / body-mind configuration.  The paper includes subtopics like body codification in tradition, codifying choreography, notating dancing, what to watch for and what to write about dance, among others.  The paper ends with a thought-provoking question—“Do we really love dance?”

The paper has three parts: The first part situates the dance style in its place of origin, the Sulu Archipelago in Southeast Asia and its environs, which firmly establishes the connection of pangalay to its Asian counterparts. Second part is about the pangalay dance style as an intangible cultural heritage with discussion and demonstration of its movement vocabulary and philosophy.  Third part is about the Amilbangsa Instruction Method (AIM) designed for the conservation and transmission of the pangalay dance style.

This paper will only focus on the mask dance of Central Java.  In the Island of Java in Indonesia, mask dancing is associated with the tradition of  Wayang Wong dance drama, which carries the cyclic episode of Mahabharata, Ramayana and Panji stories.  Originally Wayang Wong was performed only as an aristocratic entertainment. Today mask dance has existed in the villages and the royal courts simultaneously for most of its history. Mask dance today may also be performed as a separate genre with stories from the repertoires of Wayang Wong. In the dance demonstration I will present the style of Surakarta which has fixed pattern of movement and characters of Klana Sewandana (Strong male), Panji Asmorobangun (Refined male), and Candra Kirana (Graceful female).

The Barisan Mountain Range in West Sumatera, the indigenous locale of the famous Minangkabau people is home to a matrilineal community of agrarian society, which is bounded by highlands, terraced paddy fields, crater lakes, swift flowing rivers and abundance of animal husbandry. Within the far reaches of the land locked mountain region, the Minangkabau young men are taught and trained in the exquisite art of pencak silat, the martial art that serves both as demonstrative art and art of self-defense. It is within the varieties of pencak silat that dance movements were created, embellished and further ornamented by Minangkabau choreographers that brought both female and male dancers to perform ‘new’ dance pieces in the 1960s and the 1970s. Today these works have become part of the Minangkabau dance heritage. This paper will illustrate the significance of pencak silat to the development of Minangkabau dance vocabulary and choreography.

Documentation through electronic media is a modern tool in recording the development of dance.  I will present the various footage of pangalay dances that I have documented from 2002 up to 2006.  The presentation will reveal the changes in the versions of the pangalay in the past 30 years.  Similar to other Asian styles of dance and body movement, the essence of pangalay is that its movements are based on breathing–a “continuously flowing or seamless unfolding movement from a central core consistent with the pre-modern mode and Eastern sense of multi-level or anti-linear time that has no definite beginning or ending.” The lecture will present the reasons for the altered versions of the pangalay dance style based on recent historical events and based on interviews with the dancers who were recorded in the video documentation.

Filipino-Americans celebrate their identity through folkdance.  This young immigrant population finds its soul in the Arts and has performed and practiced its traditional dances from backyards to grand amphitheaters.  Besides cultural unity, folkdance performances reflect the modern and acculturated attitudes of Filipino-Americans.  But this is not unmet by challenges of authenticity, creative boundaries, and authority of the Art.  This paper will read about how Filipino-Americans practice folkdance and emphasizes what is lost in the translation from East to West and what evolves into a modern day diaspora of folkdance.