To commemorate the 46th Anniversary of Wayang Orang Bharata and National Children’s Day on 23 July, more than 100 students from kindergarten to junior high school, took to the stage of Bharata Purwa Building in Senen, Central Jakarta. They enacted a story from the “Mahabharata” titled “Durna Adu Murid” which tells the story of Dhorna, a teacher and his students.
Wayang Orang Bharata is the only wayang orang (human puppet) troupe in the city. The troupe has been preserving Indonesian traditional art by holding a wayang orang show every Saturday evening. Every actor with a wayang role only speaks in Javanese. Gamelan is used as the main musical instrument and the storyline is mostly based on the “Ramayana” or “Mahabharata.”
The actors all speak Javanese and most are from former performers of Wayang Orang Bharata with a few from other Javanese dance studios in Jakarta.
Photos by Raditya Fadilla