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Topeng Dance
Inside the curtain booth, the topeng
actor places his masks, all neatly covered
with white cloth, in their proper order of appearance.
After dedicating an offering, he unwraps the first
mask, eyeing it for some time as if he were taking
into his personality all that is individual about
the character reflected in the immobile face.
He quickly puts it on and turns. Already his movements
are rendered as dance and a transformation is
apparent.
The
curtain trembles, the gamelan buds to
a fervent pace of expectation, and dancing feet
visible behind the curtain slowly lift and settle
to the ground. A stoic-looking man with wide eyes
and a questionable smile draws apart the curtain.
In swift motions of defiance, he hovers inside
the booth, uncertain whether to come out or not.
He then begins to march forward, gazing inquisitively,
putting a finger to his forehead, taking a bit
of his clothing, and, in one delicate gesture,
letting it drop from his hand. He resolves to
dance, radiating the sound of' the gamelan
in the vibration of his fingertips and pattering
feet. After a few moments, he retreats to the
curtain and vanishes.
The
curtain shakes again. Suddenly, it is pushed aside
in the grand gesture of a buxom movie star stepping
into the limelight. There before you stands an
extremely shy, effeminate young man who draws
a limp hand to his mouth and
blushes
at his abrupt exposure. Languidly he clings to
the curtain. Terribly sweet at heart, he cannot
bear everyone laughing at him, which of course
everyone is. Feeling he should come out for a
moment, he coyly moves on stage, swinging to and
fro with his hands dangling in the posture of
loose noodles. Helplessly, he just stands there
looking ridiculous, unable to move except to flutter
his eye lashes, while the audience rocks in laughter.
Such abusiveness is too much for him. He quickly
seeks sanctuary behind the curtain. Thus was the
introductory display of masks for one performance
of Topeng. Both the stoic and the clown
were enacted by one man-the principal Topeng
actor, who by changing his mask impersonates
a series of different characters.
Topeng
means something pressed against the face-a
mask. Topeng masks survive from the 1 6th
century. Today's mask play, commemorating historical
exploits of local kings and heroes, was influenced
by the traditional Gambuh dance. Often
called the "chronicle play", Topeng
stories are drawn from the babad literature,
genealogical histories of important noble families,
set in the villages, kingdoms and temples of Bali.
The
medium of a mask play necessarily alters the telling
of history. The borderline between fact, legend,
and the miraculous has little importance in Topeng,
in which many episodes include divine intervention
or acts of magic.
The
intent is not to reconstruct exact personalities
of the past, but to portray their types: sweet
or manly, heroic or simple-minded. The noble characters,
usually a king and his family, dance in the refined
style. Their stature is so lofty, they do not
design to speak and express themselves only in
pantomime. They are accompanied by two clumsy
clowns, who wear half-masks which leave their
mouths free to talk as interpreters for their
dignified masters. Along with the nobility and
clowns is always a marvelous display of crude
caricatures, whose sole function is decorative
and entertaining.
There
are many forms of Topeng, depending upon
the set of masks used and the style of the performers.
A popular solo performance is the classical Topeng
Tua, representing the movements of an old
man. In a normal Topeng play, three or
four actors, usually all men, impersonate the
characters. A full set of Topeng masks,
numbering from thirty to forty, belongs to the
principal Topeng actor who is responsible
for the series of eccentric personalities that
produce the comedy of the play. To watch a good
Topeng actor is truly inspirational. Through
an endless resource of bizarre mannerisms and
tones of speech, he manages to concentrate the
whole of human folly into one serial panorama
of grotesquely masked comics. |
