Topeng Dance

The topeng dance was at first a court-dance. The topeng dance or wayang topeng (masked dance-drama) which had appeared in Java in the period of the Kediri kingdom in the l2th century was still very popular in the period of the Mataram kingdom. After the division of Mataram into the kingdoms of Surakarta and Yogyakarta however, the topeng dance called wayang topeng changed its place ot cultivation from the court to the common people. Since the second half of the 18th century, the wayang topeng has become a dance-drama of the common people in Central Java.

The wayang topeng developing among the common people is not of as high level as the one developing in court-circles. Before the period of independence the wayang topeng developing among the common people, usually performed by wayang puppeteers, became a commercialized dance-drama, the dancers earning their daily bread by performing on the streets, in the markets and other public places.