Practice Jawa Timur
Attenuated
A trance dance by a woman dancer who is chosen rather than trained, held once a year in two Osing villages only, Olehsari and Bakungan, at times each village sets for itself.
Seblang is danced by a woman who is not chosen for skill: at Olehsari the dancer is a girl who has not reached puberty, and at Bakungan an elderly woman, and the designation is made by a means the village sets rather than by ordinary selection. She dances in trance, eyes closed, following the music, for hours on several consecutive days.
Because the dancer is untrained and does not dance of her own volition, the form cannot be staged outside its time and place, and cannot be performed by another dancer. That is the principal fact about it, and it explains why seblang is not found on tourism stages as other Banyuwangi arts are.
Seblang is held only in two Osing villages: Olehsari, in the week after Idul Fitri, and Bakungan, in the week after Idul Adha. Both are part of their respective bersih desa cycles and not standalone events.
Confinement to two villages is information about its fragility. A form occurring in two places and depending on a dancer designated by a particular means has no reserve: a break in either means the loss of half of everything there is. This encyclopedia records that standing, and records also that the recording cited here was made under permission on condition that the complete recording is not published.
Full entry 3 / 3
2 sections, 4 sources, one of them primary.
Full does not mean finished. It means this record clears the bar this encyclopedia sets before it will speak at length.
By an office-holder
The week after Idul Fitri, set by the village
Olehsari and Bakungan hold it at different times — Bakungan after Idul Adha — and neither treats it as one ceremony with the other. The dancer is settled by a choosing that is not announced in advance.