Internalization of Wirasa in the Body Processing for Role-playing in the Yogyakarta-style Dance

Abstract

The quality of one’s being a dancer is said to be good if all three of the aspects here termed wiraga, wirama, and wirasa are able to be internalized in the person of the dancer concerned. The wirasa aspect that has as its source Joged Mataram and, therefore, consists of four elements, namely, sawiji (implying concentration), greged (implying spiritedness), sengguh (implying self-confidence), and ora mingkuh (implying never giving up). The method called mejed, which is for correcting the positioning of body parts by touching is very much required. Improvement in wirasa quality could not be done instantly. Sincerity is needed in exercises related to the wiraga and wirama aspects. The reason is that improvement in wirasa quality is highly related to the process of improvement in quality of both wiraga and wirama. Integrated mastery and application of the various rules could improve wirasa quality. Improvement in bodily quality is done through three forms of processing the body, namely, the one using as guide the traditional dance techniques, the one whose purpose is to improve stamina and elasticity, and the one whose purpose is to improve sensitivity in body and feeling with the process of exercise in the open in nature.