The 2021 UNY Young Dalang X Festival which has been taking place from Tuesday, June 8 to Saturday, June 12 at the Ki Nartosabdo Building, Faculty of Language and Arts (FBS) UNY has succeeded in presenting child puppeteers who are quite skilled in playing a series of puppets and amaze thousands of audiences who watched online through the YouTube Humas 2020 FBS UNY channel. Although most of the participants could be said to be extraordinary, the Jury had to choose 6 puppeteers as winners out of a total of 32 participants.
After fulfilling several assessment criteria such as play, ontowencana, sabet, sanggit, musicalization (dhodoghan, keprakan, sulican, karawitan) and presentation, the jury who was represented by Professor Suminto. A. Sayuti announced the winners who were divided into two categories, namely Elementary School and Junior High School. For Elementary School level, the 1st place was won by Satrio Ndaru Purwo Kusumo (Sesaji Raja Suya) from Gayam 1 Elementary School, Sukoharjo, 2nd place was won by Sadu Pramesi (Senapati Agung) from Gayam 1 Sukoharjo Elementary School and third place was won by Daneswara Satya Swandaru (Wiratha Parwa) from Kanisius Elementary School Wonosari. The winner for Junior High School was won by Abhimanyu Katon Wenang (Shinta Ilang) from SMP 1 Sukoharjo, 2nd place was won by Agung (Pandawa Darma) from SMP 3 Sukoharo and third place was won by Nanda Galih Prasetya (Kikis Tunggarana) from SMP 1 Brigin Ngawi.
"In the future, the Dalang Cilik Festival must continue to be held because UNY as an educational institution has the mission to nurture young generations who can maintain and preserve the nation's traditions and culture," said the Chairman of the Committee for the 57th UNY Anniversary, Dr. Joko Pamungkas, M.Pd. Some interesting things about the Little Dalang Festival are that there is a female puppeteer who competes, namely Sadu Pramesi from Sukoharjo and is the only female puppeteer in this event and there is also a participant who has just entered the 1st grade of elementary school, namely Moissani Abyan Ardita Putra from Bantul.
