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The heyday of Wayang Orang Sriwedari (Sriwedari), a central Javanese company doing traditional dance drama, was the 1960s-1970s, when it had great popularity and famous stars. From the 1980s the company lost popularity. In 2009, a shortened (padat), tourism-oriented performance model was tested which shows potential for reviving the form and reinvigorating the company.
On 7 November 2003 wayang, which has both puppet (wayang kulit, etc.) and dance drama (Indonesian, wayang orang, Javanese, wayang wong) variants, was proclaimed a UNESCO Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, honoring the art on the world stage as a cultural asset to be preserved and developed (Solichin 2012: 181). However, it was apparent wayang orang, the dance drama of CentralJava, also needed to be altered to be accepted by today's society.
Wayang is especially prevalent in the Javanese, Sundanese (West Javanese), and Balinese communities. In Java wayang kulit (shadow play), wayang krucil/wayang klitik (flat wooden puppetry), wayang beber (scroll narration) along with wayang orang presents stories primarily derived from the Indian Mahabharata and Ramayana but with distinct Indonesian interpretations. The genre may also include stories of Prince Panji, Babad Tanah Jawi (Chronicle of Java), and other narratives. Wayang orang (literally "human" puppetry) uses danceractors in the puppet roles and follows the performance structure of wayang kulit, using its gamelan percussion music as an integral part of a performance. A form similar to wayang orang is recorded in the Wimalasrama inscription dated 930 ad. But wayang orang as currently known took its present form only in the eighteenth century (Holt 1967: 151) when it was used by Sultan Hamengkubuwono I of Yogyakarta (r. 1755-1792) to represent the values of the palace that he had established (Lindsay 1991: 82). While wayang orang was presented as a semi-ritual performance in the kraton (palace) of Yogyakarta, it became an entertainment in the Mangkunegaran palace where Prince Mangkunegara IV (r. 1853-1881) is credited with adopting wayang kulit puppets' detailed character iconography, which is still used in today's wayang orang costumes (Susilo 1984: 117). Cohen notes the rise of the genre as a popular and sometimes troublesome public theatre form throughout Java in late 1900s:
The commercialized version of wayang orang known today as wayang orangpanggung ("staged" wayang orang) . ....