"In a country, which was under a funny regime, in a laboratory funded by the regime, a scientist transformed a white tiger into a white horse. Seeing this, the overseer frowned. Knowing this situation would bring some troubles, the scientist tried to calm him, 'Don't worry, it's in a stable condition!'""And again, I'm still here," said the Lotus. "Tick tick tick, says jeng Titiek, the rain is ticking; hopefully I can pick, then tick it. And do you know what I'm ticking? The Djanger, yep, the Djanger dance. Actually many interesting things you can find in Bali, but the Djanger made me more interested rather than mystic Leyaks myth—yes indeed, they do exist, as in another Indonesian islands, but I have not enough literature to prove it, besides, they are not the intention of my discussion.
Well, according to I Wayan Dibia and Rucina Ballinger, 'Djanger' means 'being off-center.' It refers to the chaotic periods when this dance was at its peak. The dance dates to the late 1920s by I Gde Dharna in North Bali, but reached a peak in the 1940s and 1950s during the revolution against the Dutch, and before the attempted coup in 1965, as a tool for messages from various political parties. Yes, Djanger has experienced a dark side, because of its popularity, during the dictatorship of the 1960s, Janger began to be staged in the activities of various political parties, including the Communists, often involved a lot of propaganda and art. After this period, Djanger was declining, then recovered after entering the next Dictatorship period, around the 1970s. So, will there be another period of Dictatorship in Indonesia? If someone has ambition and no one has the heart to stop him, who knows!History is the story of events, with praise or blame. 'History is the story of events, with praise or blame. 'In history lies all the secrets of statecraft,' says Confusius. Benjamin Frankling says, '... three can keep a secret if two of them are dead ....' You and you alone are the best person to keep your own secrets. Clifford Geertz writes about interesting history about Bali in 19th century. He mentions, 'The writing of this latter sort of 'history depends most critically upon the possitbility of consttructing an appropriate model of socio-cultural process, one both conceptually precise and empirically based, which can then be used to interpret the inevitably scatttered and ambiguous fragments from the archaeological past. There are a number of ways of doing this. One can draw upon what is known about comparable, but more thoroughly studied, developmen'tal sequences elsewhere-in the case at hand, those of pre-Columbian America or the ancient Near East, for example. Or one can formulate, on the basis of a far-ranging historical sociology, ideal-typical paradigms that isolate the central features of the relevant class of phenomena—the approach made famous, of course, by Max Weber. Or one can describe and analyze in some detail the structure and functioning of a current (or recent) system that one has some reason to believe bears at least a familial resemblance to those one seeks to reconstruct, illuminating the more remote by the light of the less.'Why ten or twelve pairs? Dibia and Ballinger do not state the reason. But numbers don't lie, right? Maybe yes or maybe not, the important thing is, what do behind the numbers tell? The truth, or falsity?For as long as humans have walked the earth, they have needed to show numbers, says Gabriel Esmay. Farmers count crops and animals. People track time. Merchants track goods. Builders measure structures. So, people of the past created number systems.Back to the Djanger dance, djanger refers to the female dancers. Dibia and Ballinger suggest that before the early 1980s, one would be hard pressed to find a female musician or dalang. The role of women in Bali is traditionally one of housekeeper and mother and they have little leisure time to pursue other interests. The 1980s brought much change in the artistic world, with collaborations and meetings between performing artists from all over the world. Women were seen as a viable creative force and female gamelan musicians and puppeteers are becoming more common as their new artistic roles are given more credibility.Gender roles in Bali are closely defined and delineated. The patriarchal culture ensures that women conform to expectations. Aside from regular household duties, women spend a great amount of time making temple offerings and in ritual activities. They do not have a lot of leisure time, and this is a problem in sustaining women's gamelan groups.The boys, called Kecak, chattering words such as kecak, byang and byuk and tease the women. The boy's gestures are distinct to Janger: arms move rhythmically in front and fingers flutter; elbows rest on knees, heads on hands; fists smack palms; shoulders shrug. The girls, by contrast, sway their bodies back and forth, twirl their fans and shift their heads from side to side while singing. Sometimes a play is inserted using stories such as Arjuna Wiwaha, Gatutkaca Seraya, Sunda Upasunda and Legodbawa.At first, Janger and Kecak dancers wore everyday clothing. Shorts, shirts with epaulettes, shoes and socks for the boys could be seen in the 1930s in a similar form called Stamboel. The girls would wear kebaya or long-sleeved blouses. Over time, then both began wearing temple clothes. The distinctive girl's headdress (petitis) is a modification of the wedding crown. Today, most Janger-Kecak dancers wear a gilded cape (saput), headcloth (destar), large neckpiece (badong) and kain (long cloth) made out of traditional Balinese woven cloth. The Janger girls wear gilded cloth from chest to ankles, beaded velvet neckpieces and leather armbands.Djanger is more of a choral than a dance form. 10 to 12 pairs of boys and girls face each other on the stage area, the boys seated cross-legged, the girls sitting on their heels. The girls' songs originate from those used to bring Sanghyang dancers into trance, although the words have been greatly altered. The songs are often about love, although there also have been songs about patriotism, sports and about building peace in Indonesia during the turbulent post-Soeharto era. Often girls tease the boys, asking them 'where their handsome boys have been lately?'Why 10 or 12 pairs? Dibia and Ballinger do not state the reason. But numbers don't lie, right? The important thing is what do the numbers tell? The truth, or falsity?For as long as humans have walked the earth, they have needed to show numbers, says Gabriel Esmay. Farmers count crops and animals. People track time. Merchants track goods. Builders measure structures. So, people of the past created number systems.The Great Pyramid has stood in Egypt for over four thousand years. It is the only wonder of the ancient world that is still standing. Of course, no modern tools were used. But the builders were not alone. They had math and number systems to help. Egyptian symbols were glyphs, or pictures, that were carved into stone. Just like today, 10 was a key number. Glyphs were carved many times to show larger numbers. To show the number 50, the glyph for 10 was carved five times.Later, Egyptians started writing on papyrus, an early paper made out of plants. The system did not use place value. So, symbols could be written in any order. But still, Egyptians used the symbols to do math. They could add and subtract. They could even multiply and divide. However, there is one thing that was not found on it—a zero! Egyptians had no symbol for zero.Roman numerals are sometimes still used today. Still, there is no symbol for zero. And there is no easy way to write large numbers. So, other systems have been more widely used.Babylon’s number system used only two symbols. But, many numbers could still be formed. As in Egypt, symbols were carved to write numbers, and there was still no symbol for zero. Yet, there was one big difference between the systems. The order of the symbols in Babylon’s system mattered a lot. It was the first time, place value had been used.The modern number system is made possible by nothing. Well, it is made possible by the concept and symbol for nothing—zero. It uses place value. And zero can be used to show a place with no value. This system was formed in India around AD 650. But, it was the Arabs who first brought it to Europe. The Hindu‑Arabic system changed all of this. It is based on groups of 10. The digits range from 0 to 9, like the digits used now. By using digits and groups of 10, all numbers, small and large, can be written more quickly. Soon, people saw how helpful this system could be. Ancient groups of people needed to express numbers. So, they made symbols that worked for them. We owe much to the people of the past. Place value, symbols, and zero paved the way for how we use numbers today. And number systems are still changing.Computers use a number system that is based on groups of 2, not 10. The binary system has just two digits: 0 and 1. Computers use it to store data and solve problems. So, no matter what a user types, computers change it all to 0s and 1s. Number systems have changed before. Will they change again? Many people now believe that we should use groups of 12, not 10. But one thing is clear. However, numbers are written or shown, we will always need them. By the way, where was number 3?In mathematics, we find Value, in computer science, we find Value, in Semiotics, there is also Value, likewise in the fields of Economics, Marketing, Investing etc., with their respective meanings.A philosopher loves a distinction as much as any other theorist, says Christine Tappolet and Mauro Rossi. When asked what value is, philosophers are likely to point out that this question splits into several distinct ones depending on what is considered. In common parlance, talk of values is often about what is deemed good, such as when we say that knowledge or justice are values, which ought to be promoted. Talk about values is also often talk about ideals that guide one’s actions, such as when we maintain that democracy and autonomy are Western values, or when we speak of reliability and integrity as someone’s personal values. Ideals, things that are considered to be good and, more generally, substantive claims about values, are important topics in philosophy and ethics, but they are far from the only ones. The prime focus in the philosophy of values is on more abstract questions. Philosophers commonly distinguish between evaluative concepts, evaluative judgments, evaluative sentences, and evaluative facts.We'll carry on to discuss such topic of 'Value' in the next part of this session, bi 'idhnillah."Sepucuk surat yang wangi[A fragrant letter]Warnanya pun merah hati[The color was pink as well]Bagai bingkisan pertama[Like a first gift]Tak sabar kubuka[I couldn't wait to open it]Satu, dua, dan tiga[One, two, and three]Kumulai membaca *)[I started to read]
Citations & References:
- I Wayan Dibia and Rucina Ballinger, Balinese Dance, Drama & Music, 2004, Tuttle Publishing
- John Coast, Dancing Out of Bali, 2004, Periplus
- Clifford Geertz, Negara: The Theatre State in Nineteenth Century Bali, 1980, Princeton University Press
- Geoffrey Robinson, The Darkside of Paradise: Political Violance in Bali, 1998, Cornell University Press
- Gabriel Esmay, The History of Number Systems: Place Value, 2017, Teacher Created Materials
- Tobias Brosch and David Sander (Ed.), Handbook of Value: Perspectives from Economics, Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology, 2016, Oxford University Press
*) "Surat Cinta" written by Ida Laila
