THE PERIODS OF INDONESIAN DANCING

As culture is in fact the product of all human activities be it physical, spiritual or abstract, we call say that the two social classes were cultured. Since however the class of the feudal aristocracy was strong and rich it is not surprising that its cultural growth was more rapid and more advanced than that of the common people. Consequently, the growth and development of Indonesian dancing during tile period of feudal society had a dual nature. The growth of dancing of tile aristocracy was favorable and of high quality while that of the common people was just opposite.

Corresponding with the existence of two classes in the Indonesian society of that period, there used to be two groups or kinds of dancing. The dancing developing in the palaces and mansions of the kings and the nobility is called "court dancing" and that developing amidst the common people, "people's dancing".

Court dancing which was confined Within tile walls of the 1,alaces arid mansions of the kings and the nobility, underwent a most favourable development in that period so that at the beginning of tile 20th century a high crystallization and most refined aesthetic values had been achieved.

The dancing of the common people of that period, on the other hand, did not have a favourable development so that aesthetic values were very low by comparison with those of the court dancing.
This is not surprising as the common people of that period were poor and did not have the same rights as the feudal aristocracy. Their lack of freedom of action and their poverty were the reasons for it lack of freedom in the natural development of dancing talent, so that therefore the dancing of the common people of that period was very low in its aesthetic value.

, At the beginning, most of the dances of the Period of Feudal Society were religious. But besides these, used to be profane dancing ill the sense that its beauty was meant mainly to be enjoyed as entertainment for onlookers.

The Period of Modern Society started on 17th August 1945, the day of the Proclamation of Independence. Since that date, Indonesia has been a sovereign republic; every citizen has the same rights and duties.

This change of Indonesian social structure has affected the growth and development of dancing immensely. Nowadays, dancing belongs to the whole Indonesian nation. The dancing of the Period of Feudal Society that had achieved a high crystallization was taken out of the feudal court, its spirit was changed so that it has become the property of the people as a whole. This kind of dancing is now usually referred to as "classical dancing". New composition in the same vein but unrestricted by the rules of classical dancing, are called "modern dancing", and this is now in the process of heading towards crystallization. But from the point of view of their spirit and vitality, both classical and modern dancing have a spirit and essence in harmony with those of the new Indonesian society. The 11 classical" is really applied only to distinctive characteristics of dancing that contain traits and elements of the traditional dancing. Classical dancing is built on set forms, both arbitrary and traditional.