Legong Keraton

In legends, Legong is the heavenly dance of divine nymphs. Of all classical Balinese dances, it remains the quintessence of femininity and grace. Girls from the age of five aspire to be selected to represent the community as Legong dancers.
Connoisseurs hold the dance in highest esteem and spend hours discussing the merits of various Legong groups. The most popular of Legongs is the Legong Kraton, Legong of the palace. Formerly, the dance was patronized by local rajas and held in e puri, residence of the royal family of the village. Dancers were recruited from the aptest and prettiest children. Today, the trained dancers arestill- very young; a girl of fourteen approaches the age of retirement as a Legong performer.

The highly stylized Legong Kraton enacts a drama of a most purified and abstract kind. The story is performed ' by three dancers: the condong, a female attendant of the court, and two identically dressed legongs (dancers),who adopt the roles of royal persons. Originally, a storyteller sat with the orchestra and chanted the narrative, but even this has been refined away in many Legongs. Only the suggestive themes of the magnificent gamelan gong (the full Balinese orchestra) and the minds of the audience conjure up imaginary changes of scene in the underlying play of Legong Kraton.
The story derives from the history of East Java in the 1 2th and 1 3th centuries: when on a journey the King of Lasem finds the maiden Rangkesari lost in the forest. He takes her home and locks her in a house of stone. Rangkesari's brother, the Prince of Daha, learns of her captivity and threatens war unless she is set free.
Rangkesari begs her captor to avoid war by giving her liberty, but the king prefers to fight. On his way to battle, he is met by a bird of ill omen that predicts his death. In the fight that ensues he is killed. The dance dramatizes the farewells of the King of Laserm as he departs for the battlefield and his ominous encounter with the bird. It opens with an introductory solo by the condong. She moves with infinite suppleness, dipping to the ground and rising in one unbroken motion, hertorso poised in an arch with elbows and head held high, while fingers dance circles around her wrists. Slowly, her eyes focus on two fans laid before her and, taking them, she turns to meet the arrival of the legongs.
The tiny dancers glitter and dazzle. Bound from head to foot in gold brocade, it is a wonder the legongs can move with such fervent agitation. Yet, the tight composure of the body, balanced by dynamic directive gestures-the flash of an eye, the tremble of two fingers blend in unerring precision.After as hort dance, the condong retires, leaving the legongs to pantomime the story within the dance. Like a controlled line of an exquisite drawl ing, the dancers flowfrom one identity intothel next without disrupting the harmony of t dance. They may enter as the double image one' character, their movements marked tight synchronization and rhythmical verve Then they may split, each enacting a separate role, and come together in complementary halves to form a unified pattern, as in the plan ful love scene in which they "rub noses The King of Lasem bids farewell to his queen, and takes leave of Rangkesari. She repels his advances by beating him with he fananddepartsin anger. lt is then the condong reappears as a bird with wild eyes fixed upon the king. Beating its golden wings to a strange flutter of cymbals, it attacks the king in a vain attempt to dissuade him from war. The ancient narrative relates: ". .. a black bird came flying out of the northeast and swooped down upor the king, who saw it and said, 'Raven, hoi come you to swoop down on me? In spiteo; all, 1 shall go out and fight. This 1 shall do, oh raven!... With the king's decision understood the dance may end; or the other legong may return on stage as his prime minister, and shimmering unison, they whirl thefinal stepsi: war.

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Legong Keraton

In legends, Legong is the heavenly dance of divine nymphs. Of all classical Balinese dances, it remains the quintessence of femininity and grace. Girls from the age of five aspire to be selected to represent the community as Legong dancers.
Connoisseurs hold the dance in highest esteem and spend hours discussing the merits of various Legong groups. The most popular of Legongs is the Legong Kraton, Legong of the palace. Formerly, the dance was patronized by local rajas and held in e puri, residence of the royal family of the village. Dancers were recruited from the aptest and prettiest children. Today, the trained dancers arestill- very young; a girl of fourteen approaches the age of retirement as a Legong performer.

The highly stylized Legong Kraton enacts a drama of a most purified and abstract kind. The story is performed ' by three dancers: the condong, a female attendant of the court, and two identically dressed legongs (dancers),who adopt the roles of royal persons. Originally, a storyteller sat with the orchestra and chanted the narrative, but even this has been refined away in many Legongs. Only the suggestive themes of the magnificent gamelan gong (the full Balinese orchestra) and the minds of the audience conjure up imaginary changes of scene in the underlying play of Legong Kraton.
The story derives from the history of East Java in the 1 2th and 1 3th centuries: when on a journey the King of Lasem finds the maiden Rangkesari lost in the forest. He takes her home and locks her in a house of stone. Rangkesari's brother, the Prince of Daha, learns of her captivity and threatens war unless she is set free.
Rangkesari begs her captor to avoid war by giving her liberty, but the king prefers to fight. On his way to battle, he is met by a bird of ill omen that predicts his death. In the fight that ensues he is killed. The dance dramatizes the farewells of the King of Laserm as he departs for the battlefield and his ominous encounter with the bird. It opens with an introductory solo by the condong. She moves with infinite suppleness, dipping to the ground and rising in one unbroken motion, hertorso poised in an arch with elbows and head held high, while fingers dance circles around her wrists. Slowly, her eyes focus on two fans laid before her and, taking them, she turns to meet the arrival of the legongs.
The tiny dancers glitter and dazzle. Bound from head to foot in gold brocade, it is a wonder the legongs can move with such fervent agitation. Yet, the tight composure of the body, balanced by dynamic directive gestures-the flash of an eye, the tremble of two fingers blend in unerring precision.After as hort dance, the condong retires, leaving the legongs to pantomime the story within the dance. Like a controlled line of an exquisite drawl ing, the dancers flowfrom one identity intothel next without disrupting the harmony of t dance. They may enter as the double image one' character, their movements marked tight synchronization and rhythmical verve Then they may split, each enacting a separate role, and come together in complementary halves to form a unified pattern, as in the plan ful love scene in which they "rub noses The King of Lasem bids farewell to his queen, and takes leave of Rangkesari. She repels his advances by beating him with he fananddepartsin anger. lt is then the condong reappears as a bird with wild eyes fixed upon the king. Beating its golden wings to a strange flutter of cymbals, it attacks the king in a vain attempt to dissuade him from war. The ancient narrative relates: ". .. a black bird came flying out of the northeast and swooped down upor the king, who saw it and said, 'Raven, hoi come you to swoop down on me? In spiteo; all, 1 shall go out and fight. This 1 shall do, oh raven!... With the king's decision understood the dance may end; or the other legong may return on stage as his prime minister, and shimmering unison, they whirl thefinal stepsi: war.

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Etymology

The name Indonesia derives from the Latin Indus, meaning "India", and the Greek nesos, meaning "island". The name dates to the 18th century, far predating the formation of independent Indonesia. In 1850, George Earl, an English ethnologist, proposed the terms Indunesians — and, his preference, Malayunesians — for the inhabitants of the "Indian Archipelago or Malayan Archipelago".

In the same publication, a student of Earl's, James Richardson Logan, used Indonesia as a synonym for Indian Archipelago. However, Dutch academics writing in East Indies publications were reluctant to use Indonesia. Instead, they used the terms Malay Archipelago (Maleische Archipel); the Netherlands East Indies (Nederlandsch Oost Indië), popularly Indië; the East (de Oost); and even Insulinde.
From 1900, the name Indonesia became more common in academic circles outside the Netherlands, and Indonesian nationalist groups adopted it for political expression. Adolf Bastian, of the University of Berlin, popularized the name through his book Indonesien oder die Inseln des Malayischen Archipels, 1884–1894. The first Indonesian scholar to use the name was Suwardi Suryaningrat (Ki Hajar Dewantara), when he established a press bureau in the Netherlands with the name Indonesisch Pers-bureau in 1913

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Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia (pronounced /ˌɪndoʊˈniːziə/ or /ˌɪndəˈniːʒə/) (Indonesian: Republik Indonesia), is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia comprises 17,508 islands, and with an estimated population of around 237 million people, it is the world's fourth most populous country, and has the largest Muslim population in the world.
Indonesia is a republic, with an elected legislature and president. The nation's capital city is Jakarta. The country shares land borders with Papua New Guinea, East Timor and Malaysia. Other neighboring countries include Singapore, Philippines, Australia, and the Indian territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The Indonesian archipelago has been an important trade region since at least the seventh century, when the Srivijaya Kingdom traded with China and India. Local rulers gradually adopted Indian cultural, religious and political models from the early centuries CE, and Hindu and Buddhist kingdoms flourished. Indonesian history has been influenced by foreign powers drawn to its natural resources. Muslim traders brought Islam, and European powers fought one another to monopolize trade in the Spice Islands of Maluku during the Age of Discovery. Following three and a half centuries of Dutch colonialism, Indonesia secured its independence after World War II. Indonesia's history has since been turbulent, with challenges posed by natural disasters, corruption, separatism, a democratization process, and periods of rapid economic change.
Across its many islands, Indonesia consists of distinct ethnic, linguistic, and religious groups. The Javanese are the largest and most politically dominant ethnic group. Indonesia has developed a shared identity defined by a national language, ethnic diversity, religious pluralism within a majority Muslim population, and a history of colonialism and rebellion against it. Indonesia's national motto, "Bhinneka Tunggal Ika" ("Unity in Diversity" literally, "many, yet one"), articulates the diversity that shapes the country. However, sectarian tensions and separatism have led to violent confrontations that have undermined political and economic stability. Despite its large population and densely populated regions, Indonesia has vast areas of wilderness that support the world's second highest level of biodiversity. The country is richly endowed with natural resources, yet poverty is a defining feature of contemporary Indonesia.

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