Cirebon mask dancer Rasinah still fascinating at 69

Cirebon mask dancer Rasinah still fascinating at 69

By Tuti Gintini

JAKARTA (JP): Appearing on stage with a fragile physique,
wrinkled skin and gray hair has not made 69-year-old Cirebon mask
dancer Rasinah lose her charm. Hundreds of people crowded Gedung
Kesenian Jakarta on Thursday night and watched, seemingly without
blinking, her dance. Extended applause after every number kept
her spirit alight.

Rasinah is a renowned Topeng Cirebon (Cirebon mask) dancer who
had the honor of performing as part of the Gedung Kesenian
Jakarta International Festival 2000. Her show proved that age
does not matter as far as the art to which she has dedicated her
life is concerned.

The night belonged to her. She performed Panji as her opening
number and Klana for the close. The audience did not miss a
single movement or gesture she made.

She communicated with the audience with her movements and
showed she understood the philosophy of body language. A quick
glance might have shown she moved clumsily, but in fact her
dances were full of symbolic meaning and inner energy.

In Cirebon and neighboring regencies of Indramayu and Losari,
the audience closely observes the dancer's movements before and
after she puts the mask on. Each style has a different mask and
thus each dance has different characteristics.

Meaning of life

Cirebon mask dancing is different from other mask dances in
coastal areas of West Java and elsewhere. The dancer has a
message about the meaning of life to communicate to the audience.

In Panji, for example, Rasinah told the audience about the
importance of nafsu mutmainnah, or longing for good deeds, that
will eventually bring peace and happiness. While in Klana, she
warned the audience about anger and ego which are often
uncontrollable.

In Panji, her gestures were monotonous, minimalist, powerless,
slow and repetitive. But there lay the dancer's strength. She was
embodying a spiritual struggle that exerted enormous energy to be
released in to the universe.

When she was still, she was in fact trying hard to exert her
energy from within by controlling her breathing to regulate the
rhythm of her gestures. The audience was expected to capture the
energy that radiated through her movements.

In Klana, Rasinah displayed exceptional vitality despite her
age. She was like a powerful warrior battling against ocean
waves.

Her vitality was accompanied by loud music and incessant noisy
shouts, typical of folk performing arts popular among people in
coastal areas. The loud music boosted Rasinah's energy.

Gamelan instruments used in Cirebon mask dancing are different
from those in Javanese or Balinese gamelan. In addition to the
standard gongs, drums and flutes, on Thursday night the musicians
also played the jenglong (a low-tuned set of horizontal gongs)
and the kebluk (a 'bunched' sounding set of horizontal gongs).

For Rasinah, the mask is her energy of life that radiates into
the universe.

She learned about the stage when she was a baby. She recalls
her mother, who was also a mask dancer, carrying her on her back
when she was performing. Rasinah was only two months old then.
She was born and brought up in a family of artists.

When she was 10 she was already a Cirebon mask dance star.
Thursday's performance proved, age has matured her skills.

Her career in mask dancing has moved up and down. In the
1970s, when western pop culture flooded the country, mask
dancing, like other folk arts, almost died. Her dance company was
disbanded.

Rasinah disappeared from the stage until 1994 when she made a
comeback thanks to help from various quarters, including Endo
Suanda and Toto Amsar -- both teachers at the Bandung College of
Arts.

For Thursday's show, her troupe consisted of Wangi Indriya
(singer and dancer) and Nuranani and Ropendi (dancers). The
musicians and narrators were Taham, Plongo, Kaspingi and Candra.

Beside Panji and Klana, Rasinah also performed Pamindo, Bodor
(Clown), Pamindo Abang, Patih, Tumenggung and Jinggananom.