Indonesia, with its mix of ethnic cultures, developed sense of national modernity, and cosmopolitan ethos, provides an important lens for investigating creative dialectics of tradition and modernity in the performing arts in globalized Asia. This book examines changes in the practice and conceptualization of drama, dance, music, puppetry, and pageantry under colonialism, exploring the mutual imbrication of traditional and modern arts from circa 1812 until independence in 1945, with special focus on the Japanese occupation. While the arts in Indonesia were always sites for intercultural exchang ... More

Indonesia, with its mix of ethnic cultures, developed sense of national modernity, and cosmopolitan ethos, provides an important lens for investigating creative dialectics of tradition and modernity in the performing arts in globalized Asia. This book examines changes in the practice and conceptualization of drama, dance, music, puppetry, and pageantry under colonialism, exploring the mutual imbrication of traditional and modern arts from circa 1812 until independence in 1945, with special focus on the Japanese occupation. While the arts in Indonesia were always sites for intercultural exchange, this aspect became more pronounced in colonial modernity, with debate on the value of tradition and desire for novelty and innovation. Rather than being an ancillary reflection of socio-political change, performing arts are taken as a primary mode for experiencing and conceiving modernity. Cohen unfurls stories of collective creativity in the modernization of culture; the disembedding and remooring of traditions; the emergence of new art forms and modern attitudes to art; and the hybridizing of old and new, foreign and local. The book thus offers new historical perspective on well-known arts such as gamelan, wayang kulit, and the classical dances of Bali, and introduces a panoply of arts practiced today and in the past.