Between the mats and the empty glasses, a man checks his phone against the pillar.
Singers get pampered before theirMen in batik settle onto the mats in the pavilion. The screen and its puppets are already waiting.
A man lifts his phone to photograph the women seated along the pavilion wall.
A singer in white lace checks her makeup in her phone's camera.A man in batik leans against a red pillar with his phone, red and white bunting strung overhead.
Ki Seno raises a puppet to the lamp while five singers in pink kneel in a row beside him.
One singer fixes her earring, another checks her face, both in white lace.Ki Senu Nugruho sits back stage with his orchestra before they begin their performance.
Ki Seno Nugroho lifts a puppet from beside the screen, beneath a banner bearing his name.
Ki Seno and his singers begin their all night performanceVillage gathers to watch the Wayang Kulit performance
More camaraderie among the performers
Singers and musicians wait out the hour on carved wooden chairs.One singer paints the other's nails, both already dressed in lace for the show.
Two men in batik and headcloths share a laugh against the plaster wall.
Through an open door, the performers wait in the lamplight. Outside, the night stays dark.Ki Seno moves his kris (ceremonial dagger) to his back, marking the beginning of the Wayang Kulit performance
The laughter comes easy while the polish dries.
Smoke drifts through the room as the performers laugh and wait.Ki Seno and his singers
A singer takes a selfie in front of the rows of puppets.
The gamelan orchestra settles in under the tent, the village crowd filling the dark beyond.The singers kneel in a row of white lace, and at the end of the line an elder in a headcloth can't hide his smile.
A gamelan player looks up from his instrument, waiting for his cue.
A performer exhales a cloud of smoke into the blue stage light.A man in a batik headcloth leans over the wooden chest, the puppets standing at his back.
Ki Seno lifts two puppets to the screen, their shadows joining the painted ones behind.
Ki Seno performsSix singers wait their turn, every one of them on her phone.
A musician draws his bow across the rebab, the two-stringed fiddle of the gamelan.
A player waits behind his row of bronze kettle gongs.In the dark beside the stage, a bare foot keeps time against the hanging metal plates.
The sound man rides the faders while the village crowds in to watch.
Enthusiasts gather behind the screen to watch the performance the traditional wayA singer rises to her feet and sings into the night, the gongs glinting in the dark.
Crowd in Bantul enjoys the performance
A grinning musician leans in as the singers pass a phone down the line.The great gong hangs in the dark, waiting for the one note that belongs to it.
The singers dissolve into laughter, hands over their mouths.
