Lengger Banyumas

The lengger or lenggeran dance is an old Banyumasan art. The word lengger comes from Javanese words "diarani leng jebule jengger" (Men who dress up as women). This is because at the earlier days that Lengger were perfomed, all the dancer were performed by men who dress up as women. Nowdays, the lengger dance is no longer performed by men but by women.

The number of lengger dancers is usually between 2 to 4 people, they must dress up in such a way that looks very attractive, hair in a bun, neck to upper chest are usually open, sampur or shawl is usually worn on the shoulder, wearing cloth/jarit and stagen.  This lengger dance costume is now experiencing a lot of changes, some dancers use more closed costumes, so that the neck and shoulders are not visible anymore, even these dancers also wear long sleeves.

Lengger dancers dance to the rhythm of traditional Banyumasan music called Calung. The dancers follow the dynamic and lively rhythm of Calung's music which is dominated by hip movements so it looks very adorable.

Calung gamelan equipment consists of the barung xylophone, successor xylophone, dhendhem, kenong,  gong and Kendhang.

During the performances, Calung was accompanied by a vocalist that better known as Sinden. A calung group requires a minimum of 7 members, consisting of gamelan musicians and dancers / lenggers.