One of the most fruitful activities of my field research on dance and gamelan music in the East Javanese regency of Malang 1 from 2005 to 2007 was attending live performances with my teachers. 2 Those occasions were key learning experiences: my teachers explained playing techniques of the various instruments, expounded upon conventions of dance movement, and, to my delight, sometimes took me to sit and play with the musicians who were accompanying the dancers. During performances they also

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... their heads, clicked their teeth, or chuckled with dissatisfaction. Particularly disturbing to them were recent transformations in the performance of Ngremo Tayub, a male-style dance performed by women, and Ngremo Putri, a female-style dance most often performed by men. Strikingly, my teachers were not bothered by the transvestism, but by what they saw as dancers' technical and artistic shortcomings. Unlike dancers and musicians 'in times past' (dulu), they said, performers 'nowadays' (sekarang) are departing too far from 'tradition' (tradisi), are not as competent technically, and are less concerned about artistic content than about making money from spectacle. As they talked about 'tradition' and 'times past', performers of older generations expressed their discomfort with the ways the younger generation 1 Malang is also the name of a city, but unless I specify 'the city of Malang', I am referring to the regency. Personal communication with Supatman, 6-12-2005.) 15 Personal communication with Kadam, 23-5-2006. 16 Kan, dari, kita orang ini kan, dari bapak dan ibu, kadang kalah waktu senggama, itu waktu senggama itu, bapak menginginkan seorgang anak laki-laki, tapi ibunya ingin anak perempuan. Jadi keluar yang mana yang lebih kuat itu, dorongan batinnya bapak dan mama saya itu. Kalau dorongan batin mama dan bapak, bapak saya itu lebih kuat dari mama saya, keluarnya laki-laki, tapi hatinya wanita, itu. Kadangkadang wanita juga ada yang hatinya laki-laki. (Personal communication with Kadam, 23-5-2006.) 17 Personal communication, 23-5-2006.