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.