Queen Elizabeth Hall in June 2003, 2004 and 2005.

RAMAYANA!

dance-drama trilogySouth Bank Gamelan Players
Sunarno Dance Company
Sunarno Purwolelono choreographer

Further performances were given in Italy (2004), Manchester, and Aldeburgh Festival (2005).The Ramayana, an epic Hindu poem in Sanskrit, is one of the world’s great stories, and a wellspring of South Asian culture – told and retold over the past two millennia in innumerable versions and languages across the continent. In Java it is frequently told through shadow-puppet plays or dance-drama.

During a three year collaboration with choreographer Sunarno Purwolelono, the Southbank Gamelan Players and the Sunarno Dance Company presented the Ramayana cycle as a trilogy of Javanese dance-dramas. Ten dancers portrayed the classic Hindu tale of the Abduction of Princess Sinta by the demon king Rahwana, and Prince Rama’s quest for Sinta with Hanuman the monkey warrior.