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  • Site Guide
  • About
    • About the Archive
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    • Call for Participation and Materials
  • Videos
    • All Productions
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Topeng (Indonesian theater dance)

Topeng is a dance drama in which the actors wear full masks while performing stories about ancient or mythical kings and heroes. The performances are accompanied by gamelan music, and the story is told by a narrator who wears a half-mask. The story alternates between dance and non-dance sections, and the focus is on including contradictory sides of the human experience.

Sources Cited:
Wikipedia

Glossary

  • Alexander Technique
  • Biwa (Japanese instrument)
  • Biwa hōshi
  • Bunraku (Ningyo Joruri)
  • Butoh (Japanese Dance)
  • Crosstalk (Xiangsheng, Chinese drama form)
  • Distancing effect (Brechtian Verfremdungseffekt)
  • Gamelan (Indonesian instrumental ensemble)
  • Hanamichi (Kabuki stage design)
  • Hua Ju (Chinese drama form)
  • Jingju (Peking opera, Beijing Opera)
  • Kabuki
  • Karakuri Ningyo (Japanese mechanical dolls)
  • Khon (Thai dance)
  • Kunqu (kunju or kun opera, form of Chinese opera)
  • Kyogen (Japanese theater form)
  • Nihon buyo (Japanese theater dance)
  • Noh
  • Randai (Indonesian folk theater form, uses silat)
  • Shingeki (Japanese ‘new theater’)
  • Sho-gekijo (Japanese ‘Little theater’)
  • Silat (also Pencak Silat, Malaysian martial arts)
  • Super Kabuki
  • Suzuki method
  • Takarazuka Revue (Japanese all-female musical theater)
  • Topeng (Indonesian theater dance)
  • Wayang Kulit (Indonesian shadow puppet play)
  • Yueju



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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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George Washington University

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