Paper short abstract:

How do colonial performance traditions survive independence, and what is the impact of heritage politics? Does the processing of dance as ‘intangible heritage’ undermine its underlying knowledge and modes of transmission? I explore these questions with reference to performance at heritage sites in Indonesia: the Ramayana Ballet at Prambanan, and the Five Mountains Dance Festival at Borobudur.

Paper long abstract:

How do colonial performance traditions survive independence, and what is the impact of heritage politics? Court dancing practices in Java continue to produce Indonesian citizens, but other performances are being caught up in venues associated with 'heritage'. This paper considers the dynamics of socialisation, interaction, and choreographic diversity in Indonesia, with reference to contrasting approaches to performance and sociality at UNESCO heritage sites. Kirshenblatt-Gimblett (2004) has argued that intangible heritage is 'metacultural production'which undermines underlying knowledge by transforming the role of performance makers, the fundamental conductions for cultural production and reproduction, and the speed of time. I consider this critique in relation to performance at Java's main UNESCO heritage site, Prambanan-Borobudur. At Prambanan, the spectacular Ramayana ballet started in 1960 was an early attempt to classicise court performance as national culture. At Borobudur, social media and rural sociality are the organizing principles behind the Five Mountains Festival. Both contexts reveal surprising and unpredictable elements which cannot be contained or transformed by the action of intangible heritage as a top-down socio-political construct.