Perceptions of Senaputra Dance Students About the Art of Classical Dance and Traditional Creations

Around the 1970s, professional dance arts education for the general public began to grow. Students of professional dance were mostly the sons and daughters of wealthy individuals or government officials. Dance was regarded as a source of prestige for parents at the time. Such a perception exists because society is unable to contribute to the development of such status. After 50 years, though, that perception has changed. This study considered Sanggar Tari Senaputra Malang with the aim of examining the differences in perceptions among dance students at professional dance facilities. This was descriptive qualitative research and data were collected through observations of training activities and interviews with the leader of the Senaputra Dance Workshop (Siti Sofiana, 47 years old) and four trainers. Data were analyzed using phenomenological interpretation. The results demonstrated that: (1) classical dance takes a relatively long time to learn and is personal in nature to gain social prestige; and (2) traditional dance creations are simpler and faster to learn, and tend to establish social relationships. Keywords: classic dance, traditional dance, dance teacher, Sanggar Dance