Mask dance relies on sole survivor

Mask dance relies on sole survivor

Tarko Sudiarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

A mask dancer was moving the entire body with valor and grace,
performing Tari Gandrung, a traditional dance from Indramayu
(West Java) that portrays an infatuated bachelor.

As the sonder (stole) around the dancer's shoulders rose and
fell under the deft command of the artist's nimble fingers and
kicking feet, the dance drifted into Sepak Sonder, a creation
representing a warrior's elegance, courage and chivalry.

The typical rhythms and quick movements were not the primary
charms of the Indramayu mask dance that night. It was the dancer
behind the mask of King Klana who was fascinating. At first
glance the audience must have mistaken the energetic dancer for
an athletic male, only to be surprised to see a granny with a
wrinkled face appear when she finally took off the mask.

Despite the exhausting tempo of the dance steps, the dancer
managed to control her breathing with no sign of weariness, apart
from a little perspiration on the forehead, and regained her
vigor after fanning herself with her stole. Her name is Mimi
Rasinah, 72, the only surviving Indramayu mask dancing
specialist.

Resembling the mask dance of Cirebon in movement, history and
gamelan accompaniment, the art she inherits was once forgotten by
the public. Rasinah was then inspired to revive it, though
toothless and with one of her eyes sightless -- forcing her to
use false teeth to bite the mask from the inside.

"I had stopped dancing for over 20 years due to the lack of
public interest in this art, until some fellow artists persuaded
me to resume dancing in 1994," she told The Jakarta Post in
Yogyakarta recently.

Rasinah, born in Indramayu on Feb. 20, 1930, thereafter set up
a training workshop, Mulia Bhakti, along with several friends
from Indramayu and performers from Bandung's Indonesian Arts
College. After teaching dancing and gamelan accompaniment for
some time, she earned local and central government awards, and
was invited to perform in Japan and Europe.

Learning dancing and gamelan from her father, Lastra, at
seven, Rasinah began her career as a mask dancer at 10. At this
tender age, she was already skilled in playing gamelan and
performing Indramayu's eight mask dances.

The process of learning these skills was tough, with several
onerous requirements to be fulfilled such as fasting in various
unusual ways, eating/drinking and sleeping much less, and
visiting sacred places for divine inspiration.

"To transfer his talents by supernatural means, my daddy used
to tread on my body harshly. It's indeed bizarre but I had to
undergo this ritual. A mask dancer must command not only dancing
techniques but also spiritual knowledge," she said.

As true mask dancers, Rasinah and her group performed from one
town to another around Indramayu regency, making her a star. At
14, she got married to the troupe's drummer. But her fame and
fortune aroused the envy of her rivals.

At the peak of her career, her eyes began to swell with pain,
bulging out like billiard balls. "I was miserable and lost my
eyesight for three months. No drugs could effect a cure. Then I
had a dream that lead to my recovery," claimed Rasinah, who
believes she was the victim of black magic invoked by her rivals.

By following the advice of what she describes as a very old
man in her dream, she applied crushed Baladewa leaves to her eyes
and one of them got better. Even today, she frequently wears dark
sunglasses to cover up the blind eye.

"I was accustomed to a poor life and had no difficulty in
quitting my job in the seventies. I then sold cake for a living
through the nineties. It's only recently that I got a house with
adequate furnishings through government assistance and overseas
shows," added Rasinah, who married twice and has one child and
four grandchildren.

The mask dance of Indramayu is said to have been created by
Sunan Kalijaga, one of the propagators of Islam in Java. Familiar
to the local community in the past, this dance was seen as having
religious value and even magical power capable of bringing luck
and other benefits.

Dancers like Rasinah, though ordinary people in daily life,
were also considered capable of harnessing benevolent forces
while staging shows, including healing the sick, blessing
traders, babies and farmers, and speeding up marriages.

As a mask dancing maestro, Rasinah, now back on stage and
teaching her art, still retains the esthetic qualities of her
heyday. Her appearance after a long absence is warmly to be
welcomed, especially given that she is Indramayu's only surviving
practitioner of the art.