Yogyakarta, 26 July 2026 – The Graduate School, Universitas Gadjah Mada teamed up with the Master’s Program in Performing Arts and Visual Arts Studies to host an “International Workshop on Gamelan and Traditional Dance” with participants from 17 countries. This was their last event before wrapping up the “Workshop Pengelolaan Sampah di Perkotaan” (Urban Waste Management Workshop) series. Only a few people showed up, but it was still a fun and enjoyable event.
The workshop activities kicked off with an opening and a quick intro of the activities by MC Namira Azzahra, S.S., M.A., and then continued with welcoming speech from the Dean of the Graduate School, Prof. Ir. Siti Malkhamah, M.Sc., Ph.D., IPU., ASEAN.Eng., will be there, along with Agung Dian Kharisma, S.Pd.Si., M.Biotech., Ph.D. as a lecturer in biotechnology. Before the activities get started, Dr. Rr. Paramitha Dyah Fitriasari, M.Hum., head of the Masters Study Program at PSPSR UGM, introduced the trainers who’ll be mentors for the gamelan and traditional dance workshop.
In the gamelan and traditional dance workshop session, ten people—three men and seven women—were split into two groups: four in the traditional dance group and six in the gamelan group. The event happened from 13:00 to 15:00 WIB in the Auditorium on the 5th floor of the Graduate School Building at UGM. At the start of the activity, the participants were given teaching material about using jarik and sampur for dancers and uděng (headband) for gamelan players. The gamelan training participants received material on Lancaran Suwé Ora Jamu, and the traditional dance training participants received material on creative dance. Even though the participants had different backgrounds outside of the arts, they were super excited to listen to and apply the teachings from the gamelan and traditional dance trainers from PSPSR UGM. In the last 30 minutes before the event ended, the trainers asked the participants to act like they were performing on the stage of the 5th floor Auditorium. The participants presented the material that had been taught very well. The participants’ smiles got even bigger when they got souvenirs in the form of Wayang miniature at the end of the activity. The gamelan and traditional dance training also gave us a good look at Indonesian arts and culture, especially Javanese arts and culture.
The gamelan and traditional dance workshop activities mentioned above contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in the following points:
- SDG 4 (Quality Education), provide knowledge about Indonesian arts and culture for academics, regardless of nationality.
- SDG 5 (Gender Equality), provide arts training for women, regardless of nationality or position.
- SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), provide opportunities for all groups to learn together.
- SDG 17 (Partnerships for the Goals), collaborate with institutions in different fields to ensure sustainable interdisciplinary activities. (IH)
