Janger dance

The tradition & historical record

Janger (Balinese: ᬚᬗᬾᬃ) is a traditional Balinese and Osing dance drama performance originated from the Indonesian island of Bali, and commonly performed by Balinese in Bali as well as Osing people in the easternmost region of Java. The term roughly translates to '"infatuation," with a connotation of someone who is madly in love" :97 ²

Janger is a social dance created in the 1920s, though its exact date of origin is unknown:17, 161 I Madé Kredek claims it 'originated in the village of Menyali, North Bali and the songs featured in it were those of the horse drivers in the area.':101 ²

Janger is a 'flirtatious youth group dance':92 which begins with a tableau vivant and a welcoming song.:161 This is followed by 12 male dancers (kecak) who perform an elaborate routine. When finished, they sit in two rows of six facing each other, and then, a female group (janger) enters the area, sings a traditional folk song,:161 and performs a slower dance with an 'emphasis on fluid, undulating, arm movements'.:100 When finished, they form two lines of six, with the male dancers 'forming a boundary around the playing area.':161 This opening is followed by a drama, which usually concerns some sort of domestic theme.:162 ²

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Janger dance”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ²

Janger dance is Indonesian traditional dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ¹

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ¹