188,217 views
Ebeg is a dance that depicts the war training of Mataram soldiers when fighting the Dutch. The war training carried out by Kasunanan soldiers every Saturday was then modified by artists to ignite the people's fighting spirit. The aggressive and gallant dance was performed to soar the people's optimism so that they would remain enthusiastic about fighting the invaders. The ancient stigma attached to the ebeg dance can be identified because of three things. First, since it was created during the Mataram era and passed down until now, the ebeg dance has not experienced any significant changes. Second, the magical nuance that is built by presenting spirits during wuru' gives the impression of the closeness of animism embraced by ancient Javanese society. Third, the spirit of fighting the invaders is no longer relevant to the current fighting spirit. Ebeg is a type of folk dance that has developed