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