Kathy Foley

The playful revolution : theatre and liberation in Asia

Preface I. Revolution, Freedom, and Theatre II. Building Stages of People Power: The Philippines Educational Theater Association III. Inside the Philippine Theatre of Liberation Network IV. Resistance Theatre in South Korea: Above and Underground V. The Factionalized Indian Theatre of Liberation VI. Killed in Action: Safdar HashmiOs Street Theatre in Delhi VII. Of Stages and Mosques: The Irresistible Rise of PakistanOs Political Theatre VIII. Beyond the Shadows of Wayang: Theatre of Liberation in Indonesia IX. Theatre of Liberation Experiments in Thailand X. Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

The Metonymy of Art: Vietnamese Water Puppetry As a Representation of Modern Vietnam

What is the process that makes a specific genre into a symbol of an entire nation? What are the larger issues raised by the metonymy of art? As Vietnam prepares to enter the world market, its water puppet theatre enacts rural ideals and socialist ideas.

Of Dalang and Dukun-Spirits and Men: Curing and Performance in the Wayang of West Java

I was in the midst of a puppet manipulation lesson with my teacher, a dalang (puppet-master) of wayang golek, the rod puppet theatre of the Sundanese area of West Java. A woman came to the door with a glass of water. I kept working with the unwieldy rods, hoping that by persistent practice the transubstantiation of the wooden puppet into the living character that I had seen so often in performance would occur. There was a murmuring about a sick child. The dalang seemed to blow on the water and the woman went off with the glass in hand. I asked what had happened. The dalang said that he had prepared the water for the child to

Burmese Marionettes: Yokthe Thay in Transition

Burmese marionette theatre was a valued entertainment of the courts that came to popular audiences as well until the 1950s. A revival of the art is being led by the Mandalay Marionettes, and a division of puppetry has been instituted at the Yangon (Rangoon) University of Culture. Nationalism and tourism are joint influences in spurring the return to this important art of Myanmar.

The Education of a Balinese Dalang

The dalang is the Balinese shadow-master, narrator, and puppeteer who presents the stories of wayang parwa-the shadow theatre of the area -via narration, song, dramatization, puppet manipulation, music, and humor.1 Pedalangan is the lore, technique, and religious-philosophical knowledge this artist must master. Although he most frequently performs shadow puppetry, a dalang is also needed as narrator in genres which do not involve puppets, including sendratari (dance drama), kecak (monkey chant), and legong (a classical court dance traditionally done by prepubescent children). This article focuses on the education of a dalang, drawing on my experiences of studying in both formal school settings and informal village situations. By informal I mean traditional study under the guidance of an older teacher who is usually a relative. This informal study contrasts with the institutional programs in which pedalangan has been taught since 1974 via developed curricula and formal degrees. Although my discussion will be colored by my personal experience of each of these paths, it should give insight into how a contemporary Balinese gains knowledge of pedalangan.

The Ronggeng, the Wayang, the Wali, and Islam: Female or Transvestite Male Dancers-Singers-Performers and Evolving Islam in West Java

This article discusses the relationship of Islam, female performance, wayang/topeng, and transvestite practices in the performing arts of West Java, giving a very brief overview of three periods: the mytho-historic moment of the wali (saints), who used arts, including ronggeng (female-style singing-dancing) as a tool of conversion; the colonial era, when the palaces that were fonts of religious wisdom and colonial resistance became major centers that hired and influenced ronggeng arts, which dispersed through the Sundanese area of West Java, further developing genres like tayuban (dance parties of the aristocracy) and ketuk tilu (Sundanese popular dance performance); and the contemporary period, when the art has been devalued, noting that anti-pornography legislation enacted in 2008 is, in part, aimed at eliminating remnants of these long-existing female-singer-dancer and transvestite male performance practices, which are mentioned in literature of the colonial period and linked in oral histories with the advent of Islam. Through changing assumptions about ronggeng and the arts we see shifts in attitudes toward performance, sexuality, and religious discourse in local Islam.

No More Masterpieces: Tangible Impacts and Intangible Cultural Heritage in Bordered Worlds

UNESCO since the 1970s has debated the best way to support and preserve cultural heritage forms. Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity were declared from 2001 until 2006, when the new Intangible Cultural Heritage convention replaced that program. Japan provided models and leadership for the masterpieces program. New thinking in museum practice, interest in finding ways to value performing arts as much as geographical or architectural monuments, and hopes for safeguarding and giving communities ownership of genres concerned were involved in the evolution from the masterpieces model to the Intangible Cultural Heritage model. The needs of Southeast Asian groups and their ownership of the process are queried.

Recollecting Resonances: Indonesian-Dutch Musical Encounters ed. by Bart Barendregt and Els Bogaerts (review)

also be a useful guide to the many caste and tribes that are discussed in chapter 2, on which little prior research exists. The separation of the hijra/kothi feels labored, with hijras firmly categorized as non-erotic performers, which is not supported by any clear evidence. One suspects there may be a potential argument that further binds the explicit regulation of the tawa’if and other hereditary female performers with both hijras and kothis, considering that hijras were criminalized for their performances in the 1871 Criminal Tribes Act. Morcom opens up such undernourished research areas for future scholarship. Overall, Illicit Worlds of Indian Dance is a timely contribution to South Asian studies, with much of interest to scholars of dance, gender, and sexuality, and the world of development.

The Prostitute and the President

The stage is empty and dark. As if dawn approaches, rays of light appear on the backdrop. The voice of a young woman singing a sawalat—a song of praise to the Prophet Mohammad—can be heard. After a few seconds, a group of pre-adolescent girls pass by in silhouette. Mrs. Darno and several thugs herd the children forward, sometimes slapping their butts, sometimes pulling their hair. After the adults and children exit, spotlights explode from various directions. The sound of a siren is heard blaring in the distance, followed by the siren of a police car. There follows the voices of television newscasters reading reports about the death of a government minister. Their voices overlap with one another. While they read, a funeral cortège crosses the stage with lights shining on it from the side.

Tibet Performance, Past and Present: Multidisciplinary Avenues of Research

The workshop Tibet Performance, Past and Present: Multidisciplinary Avenues of Research on 12 November 2012, at Columbia University, New York, brought together Scholars of Tibetan Performance from across the globe to discuss its past and present.