Sober religious tale belies during acrobatic performance

By Yogita Tahil Ramani

JAKARTA (JP): Droves of people pressed forward for a closer look as the woman deftly twirled a baton and simultaneously tossed wooden boxes, a couple of stools and more with her strong flailing legs.

Fire-eating and the perfectly timed acrobatics drew gasps of admiration and awe. But there was a religious touch to Genjring Dog-Dog (tambourine and drum beats) at Taman Ismail Marzuki last Monday.

The Cirebon tradition is performed by an all-female acrobatic troupe to Islamic music sung and played by a chorus of men and women. It tells of a missionary's attempts to teach people about Islam.

Organizer Engkus Mashuri said the acrobatic performances had been restricted to Islamic boarding schools until the 17th century.

Commercialization followed as its popularity increased, and the performance was recognized for its attention to mystical aspects of religion.

There was an ethereal quality to the performance and the cool, silent but brightly lit surroundings enhanced the surreal mood as 10 women showed their stuff with Copperfield-esque chutzpah.

The performance begun with a squat woman standing on a wooden box, arching her back and doing a somersault. Three additional boxes later, the woman did back somersaults off a secured plank from a towering height, with men standing guard to catch her fall. They did not need to as she landed each fall perfectly.

Engkus spoke of the women's religious faith. "These women have their special prayers to God, which they recite to give them the power to perform and attract," said Engkus. He said only women were trained because they were more graceful, skilled and devout.

"Their inner strengths are focused, and not scattered all over the place, when it comes to religion."

He said only a few groups remained in preserving the tradition.

The second act had two women sleeping on their backs, with feet raised to the sky and boxes placed on the soles of their feet. They tossed the boxes like footballs in the air, and expertly had them spinning with amazing speed, before each threw boxes for the other to catch and spin with their feet. The mind- blowing juggling act went further in adding a third person, and rhythmic beats complemented each toss of the box.

The shocker-theme began with another short woman, and wheels. There was nothing exceptional in her riding a single-wheeled cycle, until she placed a similar rotating one with oil-soaked rags tied to strings and on fire on her towel-cloaked head.

One hand balanced the cycle she was riding, while the other rotated the wheel of fire atop her head.

Unperturbed, the woman coolly lit a cigarette and enjoyed a smoke.

The same woman later juggled three soft drink bottles in the air, uncapped each one of them with her teeth and guzzled the contents. She emptied the bottles in a matter of minutes.

Ironically, the only people whose senses had not taken flight were the performers themselves. They did not seem to be basking in the mystique and were ordinarily cheery, playing with their kids and walking around the stage area during breaks, seemingly without a care in the world.

One of the evening's highlights was tightrope walking. A rope was fastened to two ends of a pole, and a woman trotted on the thin rope with a long bamboo stick in hand and a filled sack tied to one of its ends.

Next, two glasses distanced from one another, were placed on the rope and a box added on top of the glasses. The woman sat on the box, and moved up and down. The glasses never broke.

The show stopper paired a woman and her motorbike.

The woman lay on her back, and a motorcycle carried by two men was placed on the soles of her feet. The men held it there for a few excruciatingly suspenseful seconds, before the woman coordinated her leg muscles into balancing the vehicle.

She then moved her legs in an upward and downward motion, not once disturbing the balance of the resting vehicle on her feet. The minutes seemed to pass forever before the men came to unload the vehicle off her feet.

This particular act was repeated with people sitting on the vehicle. Three children sat on the balanced vehicle the second time, a huge man the third, and two more in the final round of the act.

The presence of mysticism lingered in the air as soulful music played to end the performance. It was something unlikely to be seen for a long time to come.