Sleman to hold Jathilan festival

Sleman to hold Jathilan festival

YOGYAKARTA: In an effort to preserve and develop traditional
performances, the government of Sleman regency is to hold a
Jathilan festival at Kaliurang holiday resort on May 1, May 5,
and May 8.

Jathilan is a traditional dance performance during
which the dancers, usually men, dance into a trance on a horse
made of plaited bamboo.

According to head of Sleman's cultural and tourism office
Muhammad Mahmudi, some 30 groups of Jathilan comprising of some
750 dancers and gamelan players will join the festival held under
the theme The Legend of Jathilan.

A workshop on Jathilan, according to Mahmudi, had also been
conducted prior to the festival during which fresh ideas on how
to develop the traditional performance and create new dance
creations to enrich the performance were discussed and followed
up.

"Through the festival, hopefully, we will be able to
reconstruct the basic principles of the Jathilan performance that
are deeply rooted in the community," Muhammad Mahmudi said. -- JP