Through the Lens: Ramayana Ballet Performance in Photos

[macchiata]

Have you ever watched a dance performance and are actually impressed by it?

Almost two weeks ago, I watched a story about Ramayana, a Hindu epic performed in a ballet. Although this ballet version isn’t as grand as the one held in Prambanan temple as the backdrop, the performance was no less than that. This one was held at the Ramayana Ballet Purawista near the Sultan’s palace.

Ramayana is a story of Rama rescuing his wife, who was kidnapped by Rahwana, a king of Alengka. This epic story is presented in a ballet theatrical, portraying good vs evil and a love story. There are a few versions of this story, even in Indonesia; the Balinese and Javanese versions have their differences.

This famous theatrical dance is a must-watch when visiting Yogyakarta, as the story is also carved in the Prambanan temple, another point of interest in the city.

I was fortunate to sit in the front row, and I was able to take pictures of the performers without doing too much zoom. The performers were dressed eloquently and in traditional attire, attempting to resemble the characters in this epic story. They also have different lighting types throughout the performance that indicate the characters and set the story’s mood.

FYI, this performance isn’t done daily, but they follow a schedule during the month. So, you can only watch it during the designated days they host this ballet dance.

The dance movement is slow, but their hands move so swiftly that you can see it in the pictures. The dancers here are composed of people of all ages. Although their energy differs, it didn’t affect much of the performance. However, for someone who has watched the other version, the Prambanan version was a lot better than this due to the backdrop and the dancers.

Even through my pictures, I could tell that the best performances go to Rahwana instead of the story’s protagonist. Some supporting characters also do it well and truly live up to their characters. But my favourite is definitely Rahwana.

Almost at the end of the dance, there will be a simple fire dance performance and firecrackers that could shock or impress the audience. That was interesting as I was sitting in the front and was too close to the stage. Thankfully, it was still safe, although the smoke afterwards was annoying.

One of the challenges of taking pictures with my camera at this place was the light and the speed. As you can see in this picture, the monkey character Hanoman was moving, and I was simply trying to take photos of it. That is what happened to most of the images that I was taking with my camera.

Sometimes, it’s pitch black that you can take pictures of anything in the place. However, with a better lens and camera, you can capture everything happening in this show.

The ones shown here are some of my proper collections from the show. Since the rest of them are like that, hanoman results.

Anyhow, see you around.

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	𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰.

Comments

[gtg]

That looks familiar! ;-)

[macchiata]

It was really a pleasure meeting you but I think instead of a selfie, I captured this shadow !!! 🤣 or maybe it was a shadow of me with my friend haha 🙃

[gtg]

I think it's your friend's, yours and my shadow :-)

[macchiata]

oooh hehehe I forgot if that was the start or the end of the show since I saw no singers on that little corner

[agmoore]

I love the bare feet! And the warrior stance of men (feet spread and firmly planted) vs. the demure stance (feet together) of women. Even in the still shots this is expressive. Also the costumes say a lot.

A really vibrant photo story, where the pictures are eloquent expressions of the actions--although your summary of the plot does give us a clue as to what is going on.

[macchiata]

When you're there, I really think you can understand much of it without a subtitle or text. Their expression is also carefully thought-out and planned. Like this one, the scene when Shinta was taken away and in exile inside the Rahwana's palace.

[steemflow]

Being an Indian and a Hindu, I can understand the whole story. But never watched in ballet dancing...it must be a great experience...

[macchiata]

It was a great experience. It's my 3rd time watching it in this ballet version and it's always touching. My most favorite part is when Shinta sets herself on fire to prove her loyalty and innocence to Rama. What's your favorite part of the story?

[derangedvisions]

Cool shots. I bet this performance was awesome to see in person.

[macchiata]

It really was, one of must-see and experience in Yogyakarta. It's really nice to see you say Hi, I tried texting you the other time but it looks like you weren't allowing messages on discord 😅

[wilfredocav]

Thus, in scenarios where the light is very low it is very difficult to capture well with any camera, unless you use higher iso, slower speeds, but at the same time that can detract from the quality of the image, although the important thing is to capture those moments or that narrative of the images.

!discovery 35

[macchiata]

oooh I was trying to use higher ISO but they were too many noise all over the picture. I really think it was my camera issue hahaha. I hope one day I am able to capture better result for this type of event. Thanks for checking out and telling me things that I could do to improve the image.

[vezo]

Looks very interesting this dance, the photos you took captured the scene well. I understand what you're saying about the smoke hahaha, when they do that kind of thing and you're pretty close to the stage, it's usually a little scary hahaha. Thanks for sharing this @macchiata 🤗.

[macchiata]

It was a little scary and the smoke was pretty annoying too 😅 but it was the part that I think also impressed the audience, that part was definitely the surprising element of the whole show.

[bipolar95]

I couldn't help but be amazed at how lovely the photos came out, didn't know you had quite a challenge capturing the moment. Indeed the successful results of everything that we do really outweighs the rigours in the process. That being said, you did a really good job with the narrative, you captured the moments well with words and I felt I was in the front row watching it with you. The stage is beautiful and the actors were lovely, shows like this sure brings relaxation to the mind 🙂

[macchiata]

I have to say I've seen better but the show was one of the kind. I have to appreciate all the hard work that goes into making this ballet. It's such a sacred story as well and they portrayed it really well. Thank you for checking this one out 😊

[bipolar95]

You are welcome and thank you for carrying us along 🤗

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[day1001]

Marvelous !BBH

[relf87]

I remember watching a similar performance when I was in Yogyakarta some years back too! Enjoyed it! :)