I am taking a class this semester called “Dance as Cultural Knowledge” and it is one of my most interesting classes. It is an anthropology class so we read and watch videos about Javanese court dancing, gamelan, and the cultural aspects that are key to contextualizing these practices. But we also learn these court dances that we read and watch about! I have never taken a dance class before so it is actually really fun and I am enjoying myself.
This class is especially captivating to me because I have found myself super interested in Javanese culture and how Javanese court dance is used in society not just as entertainment, but also as a form of education in alusness. Javanese dance is a way to teach alusness and proper etiquette within society; basically a guide about how to present yourself and behave. Alusness is a valued trait in Javanese culture and it is taught through court dance. Alus is a quality that humans can possess and it refers to being refined. A person can embody alusness by portraying proper etiquette and manners in Javanese society. Alus is the opposite of kasar which is coarse and simple behavior. Kasar behavior can be anything from cursing at someone to improperly addressing an authority figure.
Javanese dance embodies alusness because the dancers are taught to be in a state of flow; they are expressionless with a pleasant (feminine) demeanor and enter a sort of meditative state. This meditative state allows the dancers to have a better grasp of their self-control. Self-control is highly valued in Javanese culture. It is a very alus quality and it is a very big portion of the educational side of court dance. One of the main things that you should get out of Javanese dance, in an educational aspect, is how to control yourself in any environment (related to etiquette and manners). This is why many children are sent to court dancing as a way for them to learn self-discipline; this is similar to how people send their kids to martial arts classes. The outer actions of the dance help cultivate the inner self which is affected by the motions.
I am very interested in mindfulness and meditation and when meditating, one can watch their emotions flower within them. In this show I watched which talked about meditation, they equated observing your emotions to watching a rare animal walk out into a clearing in the woods. In Javanese dance, the movements allow the person to enter a meditative state which gives them the ability to observe their emotions like this rare animal. For example, if you become angry in a meditative state, instead of allowing yourself to be engulfed in it you can instead detach from it. You begin to observe that anger and understand where it comes from and how to resolve it. If you aren’t in a meditative state it could become too personal and you would become attached to the problem. But with meditation, you can gain perspective and distance from the issue which permits you to process and react to in a more effective manner. This allows you to have better control over your emotions and not let them take over your mind and body. This, in my opinion, is what leads to the cultivation of a person’s self-control while practicing Javanese dance. They become more aware of themselves and how they interact with the world around them. This introspection is fundamental to Javanese alusness; it is very important to know your place and how to properly conduct yourself within the larger society.
Some other things that Javanese court dance teaches its dancers are how to embody feminine qualities and how to remain expressionless. Javanese culture highly values femininity which is in opposition to a lot of other societies that dismiss femininity. In other societies, feminine qualities such as emotional control, flexibility, and subtlety are seen and weak and counterintuitive. They value the brawn and aggressiveness of male qualities. But in Java, it is seen as very alus to possess feminine qualities and Javanese court dance enforces this. The dancing embodies feminine qualities, even in the male dancers, and teaches them how to act in a feminine manner. This means being very flexible, having a pleasant demeanor, and having a strong grasp on your self-control. Typically male associated qualities include being very explosive and overly harsh; this is very kasar in Java. So, these qualities are taught by having the movements be very graceful and flexible while still retaining control over your body and demeanor.
Demeanor is a very important factor in these dances. The dancers are expected to wear an expression that is very calm and pleasant and never change it. In Javanese society, expressions are believed to be a window to your innermost feelings, secrets, and desires. This is true not just on the dance floor but in everyday life. Javanese people wear a mask of a stiff pleasant face throughout their daily lives. It is very kasar to display your emotions on your face and have excitable expressions. It is not just that emotions are bad, but it is an issue of privacy. It is not refined to relay all of your desires to everyone on the street, so in order to keep it safe, you must mask it. Most Javanese elders say that there is a need for people to overcome their desires and focus their attention on concrete goals, implying that desires are unwanted and therefore must be masked. So, it is not just that desires should be hidden, but that they must be removed entirely. Javanese dance enforces this mentality on the dancers and that is why their faces remain unmoved during the entirety of the performance. The court helps train these dancers, not just in the dance, but how they are supposed to conduct themselves in their everyday lives. It helps them to not just cover their desires but also to eliminate them. I feel that the masking of the desires is a first step to removing them entirely. It is a sort of fake-it-till-you-make-it type of process. By faking that they don’t have these desires and feelings, the hope is that someday one can remove themselves from these thoughts. Through the practice of Javanese dance, one is trained to mask their emotions, exude femininity, possess self-control, and have proper self-awareness; all of which are very proper alus qualities expected in society.
