'Kuda renggong' features horses of a different color

'Kuda renggong' features horses of a different color

By YR Prahista

BANDUNG (JP): You can find horses pulling carts, carrying
people and performing other menial tasks, while certain species
of horses are bred and trained to race.

But in Sumedang, about 60 kilometers from Bandung, West Java,
you can find horses of a different color. These horses are used
in the kuda renggong, dancing horse, a traditional form of
entertainment popular among locals.

The show is usually the highlight of holidays and other
celebrations, including Independence Day, wedding parties and
circumcision feasts.

It is called the dancing horse because during the performance
a horse shows its skill in ngarenggong, a Sundanese word meaning
"dancing".

Obviously, a horse dances differently from a human being since
it certainly cannot undulate its body like a human dancer. But
the horse can move to the rhythm of the accompanying percussion
music, a feat few other animals can accomplish.

During the dance, the horse moves its body and steps like a
marching soldier, while moving its head up and down, and its legs
are stamped on the ground in rhythm to the traditional music. In
this way, it appears as if the horse was dancing.

Some of the horses used in this performance may have other
unusual skills as well, such as moving as if they were giving a
martial arts demonstration.

The horses appear to be challenging their human counterparts
when they raise their forelegs, looking as if they will strike
their opponents. Hopping forward on their back legs, the forelegs
move as if responding to a challenge posed by the human
"opponents".

The horses taking part in such shows are usually raised by the
Sumedang people and specially trained for this performance for
four to six months.

"Some horses, however, can carry burdens and still be used in
the kuda renggong," said Daca, a member of Laksana Palipur, a
dancing horse group from Legok.

According to sources, Aki (Grandpa) Sipan of Cikurubuk
village, Buahdua subdistrict, began the dancing horse tradition
in 1910. "Aki Sipan had a strong affinity for his parents' horses
ever since he was a child," said Sartam, the show's performer.

Aki Sipan, therefore, knew practically everything there was to
know about horses, such as how a horse moved when walking and
running or when making other rhythmically movements. So, Sipan
secretly trained his parents' horses to move like they were
dancing.

One day, he showed his dancing horses to a number of villagers
in a show that was accompanied by traditional Sundanese music,
the first show that made a name for himself with his kuda
renggong. Him and his horses began to be invited to show their
skills at circumcision feasts.

The shows soon spread to other places in Sumedang, and more
and more locals began using their horses not to carry burdens but
to dance.

A dancing horse is decorated with multicolored cloth and a
variety of accessories and usually led by two men in black, who
are the trainers, locally called pawang. When the dancing horses
perform at a circumcision feast, the boy who is going to be
circumcised sits on the horse.

To make the atmosphere more festive, traditional percussion
instruments or the gamelan which accompanies the martial-arts
performing horses are played by a number of nayaga, performers
who are usually attired in costumes of strikingly bright colors.

As a traditional art, kuda renggong has now spread to almost
all points in the Sumedang district with some 50 groups with a
total of about 200 horses.

Head of the tourism service in Sumedang district, Ade Kiswaya,
said this traditional art was a regional asset that could be used
to boost tourism in the district. To this end, the Sumedang
district held the annual 1999/2000 Kuda Renggong Festival on
Sept. 11 featuring 36 kuda renggong arts groups from 10
subdistricts, 13 groups of martial-art horses and other
traditional arts.

In terms of numbers, this year's festival was not as festive
as previous ones. "One of the reasons is that the present
economic crisis may have caused some kuda renggong groups to go
under," Sartam said.

Whether a traditional arts group can survive very much depends
on members of the community, who serve as its admirers and its
source of livelihood.

Jajuli, the festival's participant, said a kuda renggong group
was paid between Rp 250,000 and Rp 1,000,000 for a show. "It
depends on the type of horses and the distance to be covered (to
the performance)," he said.