Dance and the temple : interpretation and construction of heritage through a 'virtual' site

A project funded by the Getty Research Program

The Project

 This collaborative project addresses the issue of an interactive and networked interpretation of heritage and its consumption.

 Our case study is the 9th century CE temple complex of Prambanan, in Central Java, Indonesia .

 The research team comprises archaeologists, architects, art and dance historians.

 We intend to investigate how Prambanan can be recreated as an interactive 'virtual site' (on the web and, later, if further funding is forthcoming, on CD-Rom), using new technologies.

 The reconstruction of the temple complex has now reached a sufficient state of completion to allow for visual documentation and further architectural as well as historical and archaeological analysis.

 The exploration of the relationship between dance and the temple will act as the main thread of our investigation.

What are we going to do?

 We are planning a reconstitution of the site, which will allow a virtual exploration of the entire complex using QuickTimeVR images specially researched and recorded for this purpose. Later we hope, once permission is granted to have do this using, in part at least, 3D scanning techniques

 The user will be able to travel through the temple complex exploring it from the ground as well as through an interactive map.

 This is to allow access to depth, empowering alternative perspectives, to help to break the divide between the 'scholarly experts' and the 'general public'.

Why are we pairing dance and the temple?

Let us look at the contemporary situation.

 The construction of heritage, especially archaeological heritage is an important concern in both Asian and non-Asian contexts.

 Dance too, especially in Asia, is constructed as heritage and its consumption goes hand in hand with tourist consumption of the recreated archaeological heritage.

 At the Prambanan complex dance performance is today associated with the temple site in the form of Ramayana dance -drama (sendratari), which re-enact the Rama story.

What about the past?

We have enough evidence through archaeological records to allow us to say that dance was indeed associated with this temple site.

How will the relationship be explored?

 The exploration of the dance/temple relationship will be enabled from a number of perspectives, to include a mapping of the diverse contextual meanings of dance.

 Dance will be explored as performance, as architecture, as iconography, as archaeological record.

 In architectural terms, we will look at architecture as movement, focusing on rhythm and numerical structure, which play an important part in both architecture and dance.

 The dance/temple relationship will also be explored in the way the temple imagery relates to the dynamism of the structure.

 In terms of iconography, the dance/temple relationship will be explored through examining the dance reliefs of the main temple, candi Loro Jonggrang (candi Siwa).

 The reliefs will be examined as archaeological record of dance and also in terms of dance performance and its material culture.

 Recently, through a pilot project carried out at the University of Surrey, Guildford, UK, a computer graphics animation of the reconstructed dance sequences from the reliefs was attempted.

 This pilot project aimed at making the reconstruction immediately accessible to dancers and non-dancers.

 The animation of the dance sequences does, however, is meaningful if contextualised.

Why do we want to use animation in our project?

 The main point for us is to integrate the dance with the temple complex, to see it as part of it and as part of the movement of people around the complex, in the past and in the present.

 Thus this collaborative project will further improve on the animation of the dance reliefs but only to reintegrate the dance with the temple.

Conclusion  In sum, this project views dance as an integral part of the temple site and the way it was perceived in the past (i.e. when the temple was a living one) and in the present (i.e. by visitors today).

Dance at Prambanan