Sober religious tale belies during acrobatic performance
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.