135 Creativity of Virtual Dance Competition of “Beksan Nir Corona” in The Kraton of Yogyakarta Kuswarsantyo Kuswarsantyo, Otok Fitrianto Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Indonesia Submitted: June 24, 2020. Revised: September 9, 2020. Accepted: November 18, 2020 Abstract The objectives of this study are to: (1) describe and analyze the arrangement tutorial of Beksan Nir Corona on a virtual dance competition in the Kraton of Yogyakarta; and (2) describe and analyze the level of similarity in imitation of movement patterns and creativity in the presentation of the participants in the dance competition of Beksan Nir Corona. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative supported by percentage descriptive quantitative data. The data collection process was carried out using observation, interview, and document techniques. Data analysis was carried out by the stages of data reduction, data presentation, and drawing conclusions. The research results show that the virtual dance tutorial of Beksan Nir Corona as a competition guide contains a recording of a dance model, which is a stylization of five steps of washing hands into a simple variety of movements in the classical dance of Yogyakarta style. Judges’ assessment results through dance performance videos uploaded by 196 participants showed that: (1) the abil- ity of participants to imitate all movement patterns according to the dance material of Beksan Nir Corona reached 85%; (2) the ability of participants to be creative which is manifested in the ability to express ideas only reached 60%; and (3) the remaining 40% of participants only danced the dance of Beksan Nir Corona by imitating the movement patterns that had been exemplified. The average ability to imitate the movement patterns of the dance of Beksan Nir Corona based on the assessment of the six judges is 85.5. In contrast, the creative ability in dance presentation is 70.5. Keywords: creativity; Beksan Nir Corona; virtual dance competition How to Cite: Kuswarsantyo, K., & Fitrianto, O. (2020). Creativity of Virtual Dance Competition of “Beksan Nir Corona” in The Kraton of Yogyakarta. Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research And Education, 20(2), 135-143 Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020), 135-143 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia.v20i2.25105 ation, the Kraton of Yogyakarta responded positively so that artistic activities would not stop during the Covid-19 pandemic. One of them was done by bringing up the idea of holding a virtual dance competiti- on with the headline #menaridirumahaja. In organizing the dance competition, Beksan Nir Corona is created and selected as the material object. Nir means nothing, and Corona is Covid-19, which is currently out- breaking. The dance of Nir Corona is made as to the title of a dance with the expecta- INTRODUCTION Since March 16, 2020, the Indonesian government officially stated that the Co- vid-19 Pandemic had begun to enter Indo- nesia. Therefore, since then,, the Indonesi- an government has imposed a Work from Home (WFH) policy, which must be imple- mented by all parties. Various activities, both in offices, schools, and various other activities, including the arts, must not be done face-to-face. Responding to this situ- Corresponding author: E-mail: kuswarsantyo@uny.ac.id p-ISSN 2541-1683|e-ISSN 2541-2426 Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020): 135-143136 tion that the corona victims do not grow again and soon gone. The idea for this dan- ce came from KPH Notonegoro, pengageng Kawedanan Hageng Poenokawan (KHP) Kridha Mardawa Kraton Yogyakarta, as- sisted by Abdi Dalem mataya (dancer) RJ. Pulung Ronggomataya (Raden Jajar) and MJ. Animayong Sarimataya, as well as ot- her dancers (mataya) as demonstrations. The contents of the dance of Beksan Nir Corona describe the handwashing pro- cedures that must be applied during the Covid-19 outbreak. The WHO’s handwa- shing procedure (World Health Organiza- tion) became a reference for various mo- vements, then it was transformed into a simple arrangement of classical dance in Yogyakarta style. The five steps for wa- shing hands which are the ideas in this dance include (1) washing between palms; (2) washing the joints in the finger joints; (3) washing the tips of the fingers by squee- zing them; (4) tightening the thumbs by rotating it; and (5) tightening and rotating the palms completely. The arrangement of Beksan Nir Corona is made as a medium to socialize healthy living habits by washing hands and using hand sanitizers. The implementation of the virtual dance competition in the Kraton of Yogya- karta in the context of education can be used as a model in implementing distan- ce learning. This can be observed, starting from the initial procedure for the process of pouring out ideas to uploading tutorial material, which is a combined pattern to realize an effective learning process. This process is in accordance with a learning model that combines aspects of etymology, social, psychological, and pedagogical ap- proaches that connect the brain and body, between individuals and individuals, bet- ween individuals and communities, and between domains of knowledge. In other words, it is a blended model of learning development that seeks to combine several subjects (Beane, 1995) The imitative learning model in dan- ce is currently the simplest to do. Howe- ver, with the Synthesis Analysis structural model’s combination, the learning model will be effective, as has been applied in the virtual dance competition in the Kra- ton of Yogyakarta. Thus, it is clear that the implication of the idea of a virtual dance competition can be applied as a practical learning model with other dance materials according to each institution’s needs. Kraus (1977) states that learning of movement education in physical educati- on is an integrated lesson that can contri- bute to the development of effective, effi- cient, and expressive movement responses in students to express thoughts and fee- lings to others. Relevant to this statement, the exploration method in this context will be the main method centered on students (competitors) as individuals who are able to discover themselves (self-discovery) spontaneously. Therefore, this phenome- non shows how important competition tutorials’ role is in motivating and driving the dance creativity in participants or stu- dents when applied in learning (Jazuli, 2008). In line with Jazuli’s opinion abo- ve, the concept of learning carried out by Kridha Mardawa with Beksan Nir Corona in the virtual dance competition has imple- mented the idea of cultural integration into technology. This is expressed by Kusumas- tuti (2004: 1) that the use of virtual media as the implementation of new concepts in learning is an integrated approach that can provide a holistic understanding for com- petition participants or students (Kusu- mastuti, 2004). Based on this background, the objectives of this study are to (1) iden- tify and analyze the arrangement of Beksan Nir Corona in the virtual dance competition in the Kraton of Yogyakarta; (2) know and analyze the level of similarity in the imita- tion results of the competition material of Beksan Nir Corona in the Kraton of Yogya- karta. METHOD This research is a qualitative descrip- tive study based on the observation of the process, starting from the making of lear- ning materials of virtual dance, the upload Kuswarsantyo Kuswarsantyo & Otok Fitrianto, Creativity of Virtual Dance Competition ... 137 process, and the implementation of the as- sessment. Observation, interviews, and do- cuments carried out data collection techni- ques. Observation activities were carried out during the process of making virtual dance competition materials and during the competition. Interview activities were carried out with the speakers during the process and after the dance competition. Resource persons in interview activities in- clude (1) KPH. Notonegoro as the initiator of the competition; (2) MJ. Ronggomataya and Animayong Sarimataya as dance sty- lists; and (3) MJ. Murpratomo Kumuda- mataya is the coordinator of the judging team. The research documents as a source of data in this study are competition tutori- als, recordings of competition results, and judgments from the judges. To ensure the data’s validity, a source triangulation was also carried out, namely 20 participants in a dance competition that were determined purposively. Data analysis was carried out by the stages of data reduction, data pre- sentation, and drawing conclusions. Data analysis activities are needed in the pro- cess of arranging data sequences and orga- nizing them into patterns, categories, and basic description units (Brannen, 1997). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION The arrangement tutorial of Beksan Nir Corona for Virtual Dance Competition Dance competitions are generally conducted face-to-face. However, under conditions of limitation due to the Co- vid-19 pandemic, dance competitions vir- tually are the most likely alternative solu- tion. This is because we can still maintain social distancing and physical distancing as recommended by the government. In the world of entertainment, the term ‘virtual’ is often used to publish other products or services. But for the level of tra- ditional arts, especially classical dance in Yogyakarta style, this virtual dance com- petition is something new. The classical dance, which is usually contested, requi- res space and time as well as the readiness of the organizers in a certain location, but with this condition, there is no need to pre- pare the venue and the equipment for the competition. The participants only need to study the material from home, record dance movements from home, upload the recordings, and wait for the judges’ assess- ment results. Another dimension of the prepara- tion for this Virtual Dance Competition is that each participant can record repeated movements. The best one can be selected according to the tutorial carried out by the organizing committee before uploading. In addition, the freedom to add and or de- velop the concept of presentation is an op- portunity for participants to express their creativity. This virtual competition model or- ganized by Kraton Yogyakarta not only presents the concept of practicality in its implementation but more importantly in the process. This virtual competition crea- tes a psychological effect which according to Gardner is not for personal gain, but for the collective interest of everyone. can feel the results of personal creativity. At least Gardner (1983) reveals that there are seven aspects that arise related to independent learning, namely; (1) linguis- tic intelligence; (2) musical intelligence; (3) mathematical logical intelligence; (4) spa- tial intelligence; (5) kinesthetic intelligen- ce; (6) interpersonal intelligence; (7) intra- personal intelligence. The tutorial used in virtual dance competitions as a guide for participants contains an overview of the various mo- vements that must be developed. The mo- vement illustration that must be develo- ped comes from the five steps of washing hands, as summarized in the Figure 1. Based on the five steps of washing hands, a dance tutorial is made that is displayed as simple as possible, making it easier for participants to learn and fol- low it. As a learning model, the competi- tion committee’s tutorials are intended so that the aesthetic learning process can take place systematically. The feedback from the learning model has a positive effect on the participants’ learning process (Kusu- Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020): 135-143138 mawardani, 2019). An illustration of the tutorial movements of the dance competi- tion of Beksan Nir Corona in the Kraton of Yogyakarta can be seen in Figures 2 and 3. Figure 1. The five steps of washing hands that inspire the movement of Beksan Nir Corona (doc. Din. Kes. Yogyakarta City, 2020) Figure 2. Beksan Nir Corona in introduction part (Source: Tandhayekti of the Kraton of Yog- yakarta, 2020) Figure 3. The movement variation of keplok asta (Source: Tandhayekti of the Kraton of Yog- yakarta, 2020) The step of the tutorial arrangement of Beksan Nir Corona in this virtual dance competition is carried out in the following stages: (1) exploring handwashing pro- cedures in the Covid-19 era; (2) improvi- sing movements based on classical dance in Yogyakarta style; (3) performing move- ment stylization, from pure movement to symbolic movement; and (4) compiling a series of Beksan Nir Corona complete with movement transitions based on the crite- ria of the dance movements in Yogyakarta style. After the formation of Beksan Nir Co- rona, the KHP Kridha Mardawa team con- ducted an internal discussion to see how the difficulty level resulted from the arran- gement of Beksan Nir Corona. MJ Ronggomataya, abdi dalem mataya who composed the movements of Beksan Nir Corona stated that the arrangement of the various movements was deliberately created as simple as possible. The aim is to facilitate the adaptation and imitation of participants. This was confirmed by KPH. Notonegoro, as the person in charge of the activity that the educational and entertai- ning aspects of working from home are the main objectives. Education in terms of un- derstanding traditional culture (cognitive) and dance practice (psychomotor). The ar- rangement of the movements of Beksan Nir Corona is described in detail in Table 1. The tutorial for the dance of Bek- san Nir Corona was delivered to the pub- lic through YouTube. Initially, the use of technology in traditional arts was respon- ded with pessimism and even considered unnecessary. However, over time, it seems that traditional art and technology cannot be separated. As a result, what the public does not know at large, now people can ea- sily understand how the position, history, function, and technical presentation of art around the world, only by opening access through technological devices from their own houses. The use of technology in the dan- ce learning system is now a necessity. Its implementation can help facilitate the transfer of knowledge and skills for stu- dents. As a distance learning model, this process answers doubts that learning dan- ce material does not have to be face to face. It was proven based on the judge team’s assessment results showing that 85% of participants were able to transfer their vi- sual observations to the dance of Beksan Nir Corona. Only 15% of participants could not still observe the existing dance move- Kuswarsantyo Kuswarsantyo & Otok Fitrianto, Creativity of Virtual Dance Competition ... 139 ment patterns so that the accuracy in imi- tating the movement patterns was still not appropriate. Based on these results, it can be said that the tutorial developed by the virtual dance competition organizer in the Kraton of Yogyakarta has been effective. The creativity of Participants in the Vir- tual Dance Competition of Nir Corona in the Kraton of Yogyakarta The virtual dance competition of Bek- san Nir Corona in the Kraton of Yogyakar- ta on April 2, 2020, was attended by 196 participants. In a relatively short time for approximately 12 days, the participants must do two things, namely imitating and creating a dance form based on the com- petition guide and existing video tutorials. To do these two things, of course, the par- ticipants are required to focus on the va- rious types of movements that are in the dance of Beksan Nir Corona. The process of creation of the participants, according to Hawkins (1991), can be done in stages: (1) Sensing (feeling); (2) Feeling (feeling in participating in a competition); (3) Ima- ging; (4) Transforming; (5) Forming. The- refore, based on the existing tutorial, the participants have experienced directly how dance is learned and felt, thus forming an interesting presentation that reflects their creativity. One of the appearances of the virtual dance competition of Beksan Nir Co- rona can be seen in Figure 4. Figure 4. One of the participants of the virtual dance competition (Source: screenshoot, tand- hayekti the Kraton of Yogyakarta, 2020) Responses to the virtual dance com- petition material from the participants in this study were classified into two aspects. The first aspect is related to the level of material difficulty (imitation), and the se- cond aspect is related to presentation ar- rangement opportunities (presentation creativity). The participants’ responses to the aspect of the difficulty level of the material show that, in general, the mate- rial is not too difficult to learn and imitate. Meanwhile, from the opportunity for the arrangement of dance presentations, the participants stated that they still have very creative opportunities to create various dance movements based on existing tuto- rials. The positive response from the par- ticipants of the virtual dance competition of Beksan Nir Corona was as expressed by Table 1. The arrangement of movements of Beksan Nir Corona in the virtual dance competition in the Kraton of Yogyakarta Variety of movements Quantification Floor pattern Sembahan sila (greet and bow), tangkep asta (clap hands) right and left 4X8 0 0 Jengkeng (bow), wash hands realistically with hand sanitizer 4X8 Static four-four Stand, Sabetan 1 X 8 Static four-four Drop tangkep asta wash hands, right 2 X 8 Static four-four Drop tangkep asta wash hands, left 2 x 8 Static four-four Sendi sabetan 1 X 8 Static four-four Clap hands ingset, right and left 2 X 8 Static four-four Nglawe, hold the right-left thumbs consecutively 4 x 8 Static four-four Sendi Sabetan 1X 8 Static four-four Hold the palms of hands, rub, right-left 2 X 8 Static four-four Sabetan Tancep, finish 1X8 Static four-four Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020): 135-143140 Jerry as follows. …. The online dance competition is exci- ting and a new challenge. The material in this competition is easy to do, and op- portunities to create are open; hopefully, there will be such competition next year. A similar opinion was also expressed by Khoria Fadillah, one of the female par- ticipants who stated. ….. The opportunity to express with the dance of Beksan Nir Corona is very chal- lenging, and we have no trouble doing it. This competition attracts all of us. Regarding the assessment criteria which require participants to be able to make creative arrangement in addition to imitation, Ferry Komper argues as follows. ….. This is really a challenge for the par- ticipants. But in my opinion, it doesn’t matter because the theme of this dance is relevant to the situation that occurred in the Covid-19 Pandemic, so we can easily do it according to the situation around us.…. Beksan Nir Corona, which was used as material for the Virtual Dance Competiti- on, according to the participants’ opinion, was not difficult. Two important aspects of this dance competition, namely the ability of participants to imitate the existing mo- vement patterns and the ability to create based on new ideas in the dance of Beksan Nir Corona are possible. This is in accordan- ce with the expectations of the initiators and organizers of the dance competition of Beksan Nir Corona. Participants’ interest in this dance competition can be taken into considerati- on for organizing similar dance competi- tions in the future. According to Gardner (1983), the imitation produced by partici- pants in participating in this virtual dance competition is determined by (1) musical intelligence, (2) kinesthetic intelligence, and (3) interpersonal intelligence. Musical intelligence is related to the auditive stimuli that participants must have to help express movements accor- ding to the music’s tempo or rhythm. The kinesthetic body’s intelligence is related to dancers’ flexibility in performing mo- vements of Beksan Nir Corona. The inter- personal intelligence is related to dancers’ personal responsibility in actualizing Bek- san Nir Corona in groups to participate in virtual dance competitions. Regarding the interaction in the pro- cess of participating in the virtual dance competition, Lotman (1977) states views art as a specific way of communication, as a “language” that is structured in a “strange” way. The word “strange” here should be understood as something “unu- sual.” He gave the term “language” (code) as a comprehensive meaning, which is ge- nerally referred to in semiotics as a regula- ted system, which acts as a means of com- munication and uses signs. Art is similar to a well-organized language generator. This means that there is indeed a “langu- age of art,” in addition to the relationship between language and certain artistic texts (Sayuti, 2012). The results of judges’ assessment through dance performance videos uplo- aded by 196 participants showed that: (1) the ability of the participants to imitate all the movement patterns in the dance mate- rial of Beksan Nir Corona reached 85%; (2) the ability of participants to be creative which is manifested in the ability to ex- press new ideas as expected only got 60%; and (3) the remaining 40% of participants only danced the dance of Beksan Nir Corona by imitating the movement patterns that had been exemplified. The average of mimicking abilities (imitating) of dance movement patterns of Beksan Nir Corona based on an assessment of 6 judges from 196 participants is 85.5. At the same time, the creative ability in dan- ce presentation is 70.5. Hence, the concept of the virtual dance competition of Beksan Nir Corona from the Kraton of Yogyakarta has proven its effectiveness when viewed from an interactive approach based on vi- sual imitation sensitivity. In practical lear- ning theory, it is stated that imitation is the main basis for accelerating the process of understanding the material being taught Kuswarsantyo Kuswarsantyo & Otok Fitrianto, Creativity of Virtual Dance Competition ... 141 (Kusnadi, 2018) The level of similarity (accuracy) in imitating movement patterns of Beksan Nir Corona and the creativity of the participants in its presentation varies greatly. Based on the data from the assessment results of the 20 participants who were nominated for the virtual dance competition of Beksan Nir Corona in the Kraton of Yogyakarta, it can be explained as Table 2. Assessment of participants’ compe- tence in the aspect of the ability to imitate movement patterns and creativity in the presentation of the dance of Beksan Nir Co- rona by judges was carried out with a score range between 60-95 by using multiples of 5 (five). The score for the level of imitation and creativity is done with the following indicators (Table 3). Based on the data, Table 2 shows that the imitation abilities and creativity of the 20 participants who entered as the win- ner nominees are: (1) the creativity scores of 3 participants are higher than the imi- tation ability score; (2) 9 participants have the same creativity score as the imitation ability score; and (3) the creativity sco- res of 8 participants are lower than their imitation ability scores. This shows that dancing skills are only one component of dance creativity. The rest is necessary to have the ability to come up with new ide- as to develop and create a variety of dance movements following the set competition theme. Guilford (1973) explained that in the art of dance, creativity requires other matters concerning fluency, flexibility, re- definition, and elaboration that enable the emergence of original ideas in the process of dance creation. Relevant to the theory of creativity, dance creativity also needs other things concerning fluency, flexibility, redefinition, and elaboration that allow the emergence of original ideas in the process of dance creation (Guilford, 1973). Table 2. The level of similarity of movement patterns and creative abilities of the participants in the virtual dance competition Name Score Movement Imitation Presentation Creativity Dwi Prasetyo 85 85 Angga Uka- uka 85 85 Jerry 90 85 Ferry Komper 90 85 Friday 85 90 Suwarjiyo 85 85 Dillo 85 90 Yudha Wicaksono 85 85 Kidung 85 85 Rangga 85 85 Anggoro 85 80 Amrih Gunarto 85 80 Fadil 80 85 Irim irim Laraswangi 90 85 Muharam B. M. 90 85 Risang 85 80 Khoiria Fadilla 90 90 Ratih Dwi Anjani 85 80 Sheryl Intan 80 80 Pramono 80 80 Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 20 (2) (2020): 135-143142 CONCLUSION The virtual dance competition of Bek- san Nir Corona organized by the Kraton of Yogyakarta, which was attended by 196 participants, received positive responses from the community. The guide and tuto- rial of virtual dance competition of Beksan Nir Corona, which contains a recording of a stylized dance model of five steps of wa- shing hands into a simple variety of mo- vements of classical dance in Yogyakarta style, can guide participants in practicing existing dance movement patterns and are able to stimulate participants to be creati- ve. The ability of competition partici- pants to imitate all movement patterns according to the dance material of Beksan Nir Corona reached 85%. Meanwhile, par- ticipants’ ability to be creative in the form of the ability to express ideas only got 60%. The difference in dance competition parti- cipants’ ability to imitate and be creative is due to participants’ ability to practice va- rious dance movements; only one impor- tant component in dance creation. Apart from the ability to dance properly, other things are needed relating to the ability to create, namely fluency, flexibility, definiti- on, elaboration, and original ideas of dance creation. REFERENCES Aminatun, T. (2020). Belajar Dari Covid 19. Yogyakarta: UNY. Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind. New York: Liberty, ltd. Guilford, J. P. (1973). A Psychometric Ap- proach to Creativity. In Bloomberg, M. (Ed.), Creativity: Theory and Re- search (pp. 229-246). New Haven, Conn: United Printing Service, Inc. Hawkins, A. M. (1991). Bergerak Menurut Kata Hati. ed. Wayan Dibia. Jakarta: Ford Foundation dan MSPI. Jazuli, M. (2008). Paradigma Kontekstual Pendidikan Seni. Surabaya: Unesa University Press. Kraus, R. (1977). History of the Dance. New Jersey: Prentice, Inc. Kusnadi. (2008). 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