Among Sundanese dances perhaps
Jaipongan is the most popular styles and form. Jaipongan dance could be performed solo by a female dancer, in group of female dancers, as couple between professional female and male dancers, or as couple when professional female dancers invite male audience to dance with them. Other Sundanese dances include
Topeng Sunda, Kandagan, Merak,
Sisingaan, and Badawang dances. The Merak dance (
peafowl dance) is a dance performed by female dancers inspired by the movements of a peafowl and its feathers blended with the classical movements of Sundanese dance, it symbolises the beauty of nature. Some dances might incorporated
Pencak Silat Sundanese style movements. Because Sundanese culture are commonly developed among rice farming villages in mountainous
Priangan, some dance rituals such as Buyung dance are involved in
Seren Taun rice harvest festival, accompanied with
angklung music. Rampak kendang on the other hand are actually synchronized
kendang performances involving some coordinated dance movements. The Sundanese style of
Reog dance is different than those of East Javanese Reog Ponorogo. The
Reog Sunda performance combines
comedy, joke, music, and funny comical movements and dances of the performers. Unlike its
Javanese counterpart, there is no clear distinction based on social hierarchy between court dances and the commoners' dances in Sundanese tradition. Most of Sundanese dance traditions and its culture are developed by common people in villages, the fact partly contributed to Sundanese history; the absence of Sundanese court culture (
keraton) since the fall of
Sunda Pajajaran kingdom in the late 16th century. Sundanese people however are familiar with aristocratic culture of the
menak (nobles) in
Priangan region, especially in
Cianjur,
Bandung,
Sumedang and
Ciamis. The musical art such as
Kacapi suling demonstrate the subtlety of aristocratic Sundanese arts. In the 17th century the Sundanese Priangan region was held under Javanese
Mataram kingdom for 50 years, as the result the Sundanese culture were exposed to
Javanese culture influences, such as
wayang and Javanese dance styles.
Wayang Golek although performed in Sundanese language, style and themes, it bears the same frame of references with Javanese
Wayang Kulit tradition, that often took episodes from
Ramayana or
Mahabharata. The courtly Sundanese dances were developed by Sundanese nobles such as Keurseus dance, Badaya Sunda, Sarimpi Kasumedangan, Ratu Graeni, Dewi and Wayang Orang dance in Sundanese Sandiwara style. ==See also==