Ramayana Ballet (Prambanan) Experience

Friday night, July 10, 2016, I feel ecstaticaly happy. Why could it be like that? Because I visited and joined a spectacular event in Prambanan Temple, that is Ramayana Ballet Dance. I went there with my PIC classmates at around 5 p.m. Right after we reached the location, at first we gathered in a big room to heard some information from the local well-known people about what Ramayana Ballet Dance really is. And then, we all reunited to enjoy the show. Finally, the big show had began!

Based on an epic Hindu history, the story of model king Rama was adapted to become an important local dance, encompassing the Javanese style, culture and music. Whilst the story originated in India, the Javanese version is truly representative of the local art and culture.In the evenings, this ballet comes to life, enacted by over 200 professional dancers and musicians on an open air stage that takes advantage of the Prambanan Temples as a backdrop. The performances run from 7.30pm to 9.30pm, and are weather dependent.

From the show, me myself liked the performance of Hanuman because he brought us to the romantic atmosphere with wonderful attractions. I couldn't say a word to say what a wonderful performance he was doing. And the parts that I loved the most were when Hanuman seduced a lady and took him on the dance floor romanticaly, and the other one was when Hanuman burns Ravana’s city in a danced stage performance. To enact Hanuman’s burning of Ravana’s city in performance, a bonfire was built behind a columned fence on a stone promontory near the Prabanan temple. The Hanuman dancer moves behind the flames to the right.

 And what can we learned from that show? Of course, we should preserve our culture, especially traditional dance because this is one of the most valuable and important thing to bring Indonesia become well-known in the whole world. No meatter what the future would bring, we should keep preserving our culture so that they would not be vanished. That's why, traditional dance and opera such Ramayana Ballet is should be preserved and improved any further to attract many people.