East Java Tourism News

REOG DANCE: Battle between MAN and BEAST

September 4th, 2006

A DANCE OF WAR-This magical war dance involves several different characters, the most eye-catching and dramatic being the ‘Barongan’ tiger with a two metre tall crown of rich and beautiful turquoise peacock feathers which is larger than the dancer wearing it! It takes an enormous amount of strength and concentration to be able to throw the crown around and to make the peacock feathers wave. The whole thing is quite demonic and uncontrollably hypnotizing.

A TIMELESS STORY
The history of the dance, or at least the story that goes behind it, goes back to ancient East Java mythology and goes something like this: Once upon a time there was a legendary battle between two mighty kings; King Prabu Klonosewandono and King Adipati Singobarong. (in that life-time a ferocious tiger). The cause of the battle? A beautiful woman. Not just any beautiful woman but a princess from the kingdom of Kediri called Dewi Songgolangit.

MESSAGES IN DREAMS
King Prabu, unmarried and concerned about succession (he wanted an heir to the throne), dreamt that he met Princess Dewi. Dreams hold great portent in Indonesia, both then and now, and his prime minister took it as sign that Princess Dewi should be the king’s wife and bear him his heir. His dream came too late, however, because Adipati, the tiger king, had already proposed to the beautiful princess. Classic situation; one eligible and drop-dead-gorgeous princess and two extremely well off, love-sick suitors, forget one of them is a tiger. There would obviously have to be a contest of some sort. Princess Dewi thought about it for a while and decided that she wanted three things from her husband-to-be.

A TEST OF WORTH
The first thing was easy. All she wanted was one hundred and forty four horses. Number two on the shopping list was to create a new musical sound and performance that nobody had ever seen or heard before. More difficult but hardly impossible. The final thing. however, was real tricky. Princess Dewi wanted and animal with two heads!

One thing naturally led to another and the two Kings tried to kill each other in a vicious battle. Magic and sorcery were common place at this time, (just look at the tiger King Adipati), and King Prabu used all the magic he could muster to try and create the beast with two heads. Needless to say he did and King Adipati was forced to bow out of the contest for the beautiful princess.

The characters and story come to vivid life in the Reog performance. King Prabu, obviously angry at having to compete with a tiger for Princess Dewi’s hand is red-faced while King Adipati looks magnificent in his plume of feathers. A small percussion group’s instruments and music represent those created for Princess Dewi from battle armour and the men on wooden horses represent armies going into battle.

This is a really colourful and exciting event and can be seen in many areas of East Java and even in streets and car parks in Jakarta. Next time you see a group of people dressed in black, carrying small cut-out stylised horses and carrying a huge plume of peacock feathers take the time to see where they go and watch one of Java’s most unusual cultural shows.
Source : www.tourismindonesia.com

Entry Filed under: East Java News