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Wayang Wong

The term wayang will be explained more fully in the section dealing with wayang- wong. Topeng is a wooden mask representing an important figure in the story. The Panji cycle which is made up of original Javanese stories, constitutes the only repertoire for the wayang topeng performance.

presented by means of movements so symbolic and refined that a layman would not understand them. An example of famous bedayas are tile Bedaya Ketawang, Bedaya Semang, Bedaya Bedah Mediun and Bedaya Arjunawiwaha. The Badaya Ketawang was created by Sultan Agung, king of Mataram in the first half of th l7th century.
The Bedaya Ketawang describes the myth of thc meeting between Sultan Agung and Ratu Rara Kidul or Nyai Rara Kidul (the Queen of South Sea). According to javanese legend the greatest king of Mataram, Sultan Agung, united himself in holy meeting to the mythical Ratu Rara Kidul, the ruler of the South Sea (the sea to the south of java). This meeting established a close family bond between the kings of Mataram succeeding Sultan Agung and Ratu Rara Kidul. On special occasions, such as facing a threat of war, the king of Mataram might ask the help of the invisible troops belonging to Ratu Rara Kidul.

The Bedaya Ketawang created by Sultan Agung was inherited by the court of Surakarta. The dance is highly sacred to the court and is only performed on very important occasions such as the coronation of a new king. To cultivate the dance there is Bedaya Ketawang rehearsal in the Surakarta court every holy Selasa Kliwon. Every year this performance is held with great ceremony.
Possibly the number of the bedaya dancers symbolizes tile nine holes of the human body.
After the splitting up of the Mataram kingdom into the kingdoms of Surakarta and Yogyakarta King Hamengku. Buwana II composed a bedaya resembling the Bedaya Ketawang called the Bedaya Semang at the end of the 18th century. The Yogyakarta court however no longer performs the Bedaya Semang.
In addition to these two bedayas in order to preserve and cultivate the holy Bedaya Ketawang there are other kinds of bedaya both in Surakarta and Yogyakarta. In Yogyakarta there is a bedaya whose background is a historical event, such as the Bedaya Bedab Mediun, which describes the suppression of the rebellion of the regent of Madiun by tile kingdom of Mataram. Another bedaya is tile Bedaya Arjunawiwaha depicting the marriage and between Arjuna and the nymph Suprabha.

Another women's dance of tile court is the srimpi. The srimpi is danced by four girls. As a rule a srimpi dance describes a battle between two important woman warriors. This dance is in fact a choreography in pairs, two girls playing the role of one important figure and the two others acting the part of the other. The srimpi has no dialogue and the stories presented are taken from the Islamic period, for instance the battle between two princesses from the Menak story, Princess Sirtupelaeli and Princess Sudarawerti. There is also a srimpi choreography which is danced not by four but five girls describing not a fight, but love. This is the Srimpi Renggawati from the courts of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, which describes
Princess Renggawati catching a Meliwis Putih bird, the personification of her ideal king, King Anglingdarma.
The srimpi dance compositions are usually given names in accordance with the gending (melody) accompanying them. For instance Srimpi Pandelori is a srimpi dance with the gending (melody) Pandelori; Srimpi Arjunamangsah is a srimpi accompained by the gending Arjunamangsah; Srimpi Muncar is a srimpi accompained by the gending Muncar.
Like the bedaya dance, the movements of the srimpi dance are so symbolic and refined that people who do not know them are unable to understand them. The number of the srimpi dancers symbolizes the four wind directions - north, south, east and west.