THE EXOCTIC REOG PONOROGO

Reog is a traditional Indonesian dance form. There aremany types of Reogs in Indonesia, but the most notable ones are Reog Ponorogo(East Java) and Reog Sunda (West Java). Although both share a similar name,there is no connection nor similar theme among these traditions. Reog Ponorogoseems to be the kind of dance that demonstrate physical strength andextravagant lion-peafowl mask and costumes, while Reog Sunda is a lot more likea traditional musical comedy and dance.

   

reog is a traditional dance that become the main identityfor Ponorogo Regency. Reog National Festival is held every years along theanniversary of Ponorogo regency and Grebeg Suro celebration. Reog dance is alsostaged full moon nightly in paseban, Ponorogo town square. Reog told about thestruggle for a prince who will propose to a beautiful princess. Reog Ponorogotells the story of a mythical battle between the King of Ponorogo and themagical lion-like creature called Singa Barong. Singa Barong is a large maskusually made of tiger's or leopard's head skin, upon the mask attached a largefan adorned with peafowl  feathers. TheSinga Barong mask was notoriously heavy, the dancer of Singo Barong bear themask about 30 – 40 kg weight and supported by the strength of their teeth

The leading figures in Reog Ponorogo performance includes:

   1. KlonoSewandono, A men in regal attire wearing mask in proud and pompous dance, playthe role as the King of Ponorogo

   2. Bujang Anom,rough youthful men wearing red mask, they performed acrobatic dances andsometimes also involved trance.

   3. Jatil, theyouthful handsome horsemen riding horses made of weaved bamboo, similar to KudaLumping dance. Today Jatil usually performed by female dancers.

   4. Warok, playedas Singa Barong, the mythical creature. The one that allowed to performed thismask dance is called warok. A warok is the hororary title of local hero orstrongman of the village that possessed both exceptional spiritual andphyisical strength. The dance itself is demonstration of phyisical strength ofthe dancers.

Reog Ponorogo usually consists of three sets of dances;each dance is performed by several dancers:

   1. The firstdance is the opening dance, performed by Bujang Anom, male dancers wearingblack costumes. The costume describe rough men with intimidating moustache andother masculinity symbols.

   2. The seconddance is the Jaran Kepang dance performed by Jatil; it is originally performedby a gemblak, a handsome and youthful teenage boy wearing colourful costumes.Today the female dancers were usually played this role.

   3. The thirddance is the main attraction of the show; it is performed by all the Reogdancers. The warok as the main male dancer, wearing a large and heavy lionmask, dances in the centre of the stage while the other dancers dance aroundhim. To demonstrate the warok's extraordinary strength Jatil or female dancersriding on top of lion mask and being carried around.

The dance describe Klono Sewandono the king of Ponorogo onhis journey to Kediri to seek the hands of Princess Songgo Langit. On hisjourney he was attacked by a vicious monster called Singa Barong, a mythicallion with peacock on its head. Historians trace the origin of Reog Ponorogo asthe satire on the incompetence of Majapahit rulers during the end of the empire. It describe the innate Ponorogoliberty and its opposition on centralist Majapahit rule. The lion represent theking of Majapahit while the peafowl represent the queen, it was suggested thatthe king was incompetent and always being controlled by his queen. Thebeautiful, youthful and almost effeminate horsemen describe the Majapahitcavalry that have lost their manliness.

 Reog Ponorogo dancers traditionally performed in a trancestate. Reog Ponorogo displays the traditional Kejawen Javanese spiritualteaching. Next to physical requirement, the dancers—especially theWarok—required to follow strict rules, rituals and exercises, both physical andspiritual. One of the requirement is abstinence, warok is prohibited toindulged and involved in sexual relationship with women, yet having sex withboy age eight to fifteen is allowed. The boy lover is called Gemblak andusually kept by Warok in their household under the agreement and compensationto the boy's family. Warok can be married with a woman as their wive, but theymay kept a gemblak too. This led to Warok-Gemblakan relationship that similarto pederastic tradition of ancient Greece. Anybody who is in touch with thetraditional way of life in Ponorogo, knows that there are these older mencalled warok who, instead of having sex with their wives, have sex with youngerboys. What Warok and Gemblak did is homosexual act, yet they never identifythemself as homosexuals.

Today this Warok-Gemblakan practice is discouraged bylocal religious authorities and being shunned through public moral opposition.As the result today Reog Ponorogo performance rarely features Gemblak boys toperformed as Jatil horsemen, their position were replaced by girls. Althoughtoday this practice might probably still survived and done in discreet manner.

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Ditulis oleh: iwansky - Jumat, 25 November 2011