'Gandrung' dance retains popularity

'Gandrung' dance retains popularity

By Ahmad Solikhan and Ali Budiman

BANYUWANGI, East Java (JP): Copper-red rays from lanterns
flooded the stage. The fragrance of scattered jasmine and kenanga
flowers induced a heightened romantic ambience. The audience
around the stage had been waiting since early evening and could
hardly contain their impatience at the emergence of the beautiful
dancers.

And then, accompanied by the sounds of gamelan in the East
Java style, two gorgeous girls wearing hair buns and dressed in
kebaya, traditional women's clothing, swayed onto the stage
moving their sashes with curved fingers. They cast glances at the
audience while undulating their bodies.

The applause of the crowd added to the feverish atmosphere of
the show when the gandrung (dance girls) sang a love song in the
Using vernacular of Banyuwangi, translated as: "I am an example
of someone lulled by sweet lips, I have lost my virginity, and I
deeply deplore life." The Using vernacular is a mixture of East
Javanese, Madurese and Balinese.

The two gandrung slowly descended from the stage, dancing all
the way while approaching the audience members. They took off
sampur, sashes of various colors from their throats and wound
them one by one around audience members' necks. A little later, a
man with a sash around his neck nimbly tailed the two dancers
onto the stage to dance together.

The men given the opportunity to dance with the gandrung are
called paju. They are usually charmed by the dancers' beauty,
challenging looks and alluring bodies. They slip banknotes into
the dancers' cleavage.

It is not surprising that many paju are tempted to pass the
night with the gandrung, showering hundreds of thousands of
rupiah on them. The sampur entitles the paju to 10 to 15 minutes
for which the paju parts with at least Rp 10,000. It is very rare
that men refuse the opportunity to get a sampur. They even vie
with each other, and if necessary, show off a wad of money to get
it. The purpose is to spend the whole night with on of the prima
donnas.

"There is nothing new to the behavior of most gandrung," said
M. Sakur, an audience member from Jember.

The gandrung is a traditional part of Banyuwangi culture,
known for many generations until today. Gandrung performances are
given on national holidays, at weddings and at other parties. In
general they take place from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. on open stages, in
yards and buildings. The audience members are mostly adult males
from Banyuwangi, Jember, Bali and surrounding areas.

According to Asmawati, 35, a gandrung girl living in Pancoran,
Banyuwangi, a dancer must go on a "white" diet for three days,
eating only one fistful of rice each day, prior to a performance
in order to lure spectators. She should also read certain mantras
obtained from a kiai (leader) with magical powers, as a decoy and
for precautions. These efforts would make the dancer look
beautiful, radiant and give excellent performance the whole
night.

A gandrung group usually involves at least five people. The
gamelan players are not required to be members but are expected
to be available when needed. The fee for a group's performance is
between Rp 300,000 and Rp 400,000. It may also depend on the
host. It does not include the tips lavished by the paju on the
gandrung for dancing and "dating".

"The group I lead performs three times a month. In times of
celebrations the number can increase to 10 to 15 appearances,"
said Asmawati.

Sometimes one of the more successful gandrung goes out on her
own or starts her own group. Prima donnas earn more on their own
than the usual fee of Rp 50,000 for one performance.

Asmawati, who became a prima donna in 1992 before setting up
her own group, is still active as a prima donna. For her group,
she employs four young and beautiful gandrung dancers.

But there is no studio for training the gandrung, mostly high
school graduates. The dance itself requires no specific theory.
To be a prima donna, a dancer needs only flexibility in her body
movements, deftness in wooing people and daring to appear
different.

Once a woman is involved in the art of gandrung, it is hard
for her to give it up, as she indirectly fosters her own
spiritual world -- an illusionary world full of glamor that
becomes a source of her creativity on stage. One month with a
gandrung group guarantees that a dancer will have the courage to
appear on stage.

In reality, gandrung life in the community is not as rosy as
imagined in the dancer's thoughts. It is no wonder that many of
them resign and complain about one-night stands with the paju,
which later affect the credibility of the gandrung in the
community.

Most gandrung who try to raise families either fail or their
marriages end in divorce, just as experienced by former prima
donna Rodianah, 39, who retired five years ago. This divorcee
with one child is now a teak wood supplier to Bali.

When she was a dancer, Rodianah tried hard to have a family,
but during her marriage her dream of a glamorous life kept
haunting her, making her husband abandon her.

"It never stops to amaze me why every former gandrung always
fails to raise a family," Rodianah complained. She is from
Gambiran, Banyuwangi.

The gandrung life is riskier compared to Reog Ponorogo,
another popular traditional performance native to Ponorogo, East
Java. The two performances are popular within the community, but
there is a tendency to make gandrung the objects of sexual
harassment while Reog Ponorogo's warok, a martial arts expert
endowed with spiritual powers and the leader of the dance group,
is known for keeping gemblak, young men who are usually the
performers of the special jatil, or horse dance.

These two traditional cultural art forms should be maintained
and developed professionally with the support of the community,
without labeling them as lacking in morals. Besides, it is hoped
that local cultural art institutes can participate in organizing
and training them, helping gandrung to become professional
dancers without having to face harassment.