Annissa Wulan
Sep 26, 2025
When visiting Yogyakarta, one must-see is the Ramayana Ballet at Prambanan Temple. The Prambanan Ramayana Ballet is a performance that combines dance and drama without dialogue.
As the name suggests, this dance drama is based on the Ramayana story and is beautifully presented at the Prambanan Temple Complex. The Prambanan Ramayana Ballet is the most regularly performed dance drama since its inception in 1961.
The Ramayana Epic
The Prambanan Ramayana Ballet uses its source material from the Serat Rama, the most popular New Javanese literary version of the Ramayana. The Serat Rama is a retelling of the oldest Ramayana manuscript in Indonesia, the Ramayana Kakawin, written in Old Javanese and sung in verse.
First Performance
The initial idea for the Ramayana Ballet originated from GPH Djatikoesoemo, a leader in the Indonesian tourism industry, aimed at promoting Indonesian tourism internationally. In 1960, Djatikoesoemo saw the Royal Ballet of Cambodia perform in front of Angkor Wat, which ultimately inspired him to stage a dance drama performance in front of Prambanan Temple.
This first Ramayana Ballet project was handled directly by the Ministry of Land Transportation, Post, and Telecommunications as a national project with a budget of Rp 20 million. Before the first performance, dress rehearsals were held for three consecutive days, and the public around Prambanan was allowed to watch free of charge. However, this activity was discontinued in 1965.
The Prambanan Ramayana Ballet was colossal, involving many dancers. The first production, in 1961, involved 865 people, including 55 principal dancers, with each character played by three to four dancers so that a dancer would not have to dance consecutively every night.
The premiere performance, held on July 26, 1961, sold out the theater, which had a capacity of 2,000 to 3,000. The next performance, considered significant, took place on August 25, 1961, and was attended by President Sukarno.
At this performance, President Sukarno left a message on a plaque that read, "The Prambanan Ramayana Ballet is a good effort to elevate Indonesian performing arts to a higher level."
Not only did Sukarno convey this message, but Charlie Chaplin, who also attended the performance as a VIP guest, also left a positive comment, saying, "If the world knew about this Ramayana Festival, visitors would flock to Indonesia. I will tell the world that Central Java has an amazing art form that has deeply impressed me."
Performance
Initially, the Prambanan Ramayana Ballet was performed in six episodes, but in 1967, it was condensed into four. Each episode begins with a song that informs the audience that the Ramayana performance always takes place during the full moon.
Before the performance begins, there will be a procession of eight male dancers dressed as Surakarta Palace soldiers, escorting seven female dancers carrying offerings, which will then be placed near the gamelan. A host backstage will read the story in English, accompanied by gamelan music. Each episode typically begins at 7:00 AM and ends at 9:00 PM.
Theater
The Prambanan Temple open-air stage, used for the first performance in 1961, is still inside the complex, so a new open-air stage has been built outside the temple area. This new stage, with a capacity of 991 seats, is located to the west of the Prambanan Temple Complex.
The audience will face east, with the Shiva, Vishnu, and Brahma temples serving as backdrops. At night, the temples will be illuminated with high-voltage lights to create a majestic backdrop. Performances on the open-air stage are only held during the dry season, which lasts from May to October.
The Sacred Fire Episode
On October 15, 2012, the Prambanan Ramayana Ballet presented a colossal Sacred Fire episode, which later earned the Guinness World Records award for the largest Ramayana dance performance with the largest number of dancers, with 230 dancers and 30 musicians. It is also the longest-running and consistently performed dance drama, having been performed since 1961.