In what has become a spring tradition, fifth- and sixth-grade students at Clearview Elementary School in Clear Lake presented a “Gamelan,” a performance of Javanese royal court music and dance, for an audience of students last Friday morning, with a second performance for family and friends in the afternoon.

 

Music teacher Karen Ingeman welcomed the audience to the performance, and provided a brief history of the music and dances that were to be performed. Student speakers then provided more detailed descriptions on each segment of the program as it went on.

 

The ceremonial dances are interpretations of those performed at the Javanese Royal Court in Indonesia. The pieces were choreographed and rehearsed by Tri Sutrisno, a dancer who entered the royal court school when she was seven years old. Her husband, Joko Sutrisno, taught the student musicians how to play the traditional instruments and rehearsed them for their performances.

 

As always, the performance concluded with the famous “Ramayana Monkey Chant,” which involves a large group of performers wearing monkey masks delivering a choreographed percussive chant that tells the story of the victory of Prince Rama and his band of monkey warriors over the evil King Ravana, who had kidnapped Princess Sita and upset the harmony of the peaceful kingdom.  The performance last Friday morning was especially enthusiastic on the part of the monkey warriors, and drew a loud round of applause from their student peers.  

 

This form of music drama first became popular in the 1930s, and can incorporate more than 50 dancers and musicians to tell the story in a performance that can last for several hours.