A VISIT AT THE MASK WORKSHOP - IT'S MORE THAN A DANCE -

Back to my visit in Indonesia , i have lucky enough to join a group of photographer to do some photoshoot with model at one of the mask making workshop in Yogyakarta with the whole team of mask dance . The Cirebon mask dance was one of popular dance that has been practice since century ago that represent a story about their God , human and nature.

I believe that this kind of dance is not only being practice or perform here but in at a lot of country not only in ASEAN but they might have different name , routine and storyline. They say , when the dancer perform the dance , the mask or topeng help them to become the character of the mask. Some say the mask is alive , long time ago the spirit of God , etc is being called to come and possessed the dancer. They believe that the dance is not themselves when using the mask especially when the ritual been perform by the priest.

When you are in the audience , you can feel strong spirit energy during the dance. They advices the audience to respect the dance as they respect the spirit or the spirit will visit their body. I wish i could take some video when i watch the performance in that day . This is the best video that i can get in youtube. I hope you ll enjoy it.

AMAZING CIREBON MASK DANCE BY DWI GINULUR ASPARI
Credit to made agus wardana
-She start using the mask at 7:00 minutes -

THE VISIT AT THE WORKSHOP

We arrive at the workshop a little bit late in the evening because we got stuck long traffic at our way . The place is quite isolated because it was far inside rural village of Desa Putat , Patuk , Gunung Kidul , Yogyakarta.

Different mask has different character , and the dancer need to become one with the mask . It is not easy to make the mask. You need years of experience to be called expert making the mask.

Like they say , different mask has different character . According the mask maker , there is a few times they feel they being possessed by the spirit while making the mask . If that happen , they not sell the mask because they know that the mask has already being choose their owner . And always many time that they feel , they being stalk or disturb by "them" while they are working. But , they never see the mask changing it face like some movie . But if it there was spirit on it , you can feel it before you can even touch it. Usually that kind of mask , they ll put in some safety place that only a few of them know.

The local or the dancer is very friendly. Since i can understand and speak Indonesia a little bit , we talk a lot about that traditional dance and about the spirit or scary experience during the dance. They say , the dance itself is an art . They respect the dance because when they dance they are represent the mask character . They actually dont mind if the spirit possessed them because they say it ll be an honor for them if the God use their body as vessel to tell people about themselves. Some of them say even they being possessed , they not know if it is the right spirit or not. Most of the time they say , the only person that know is the priest . But , sometimes even the priest dont know what kind of spirit that come. That's why before the dance being held , they ll do some ritual to respect the spirit so it not give any harm to them.

It is a great experience to know about the story of this dance. For some people , they might think this dance is just a simple dance that being perform on stage . But , after listening to their story and experience tells me that this dance is actually connecting us to the nature and undiscover things in the world.

This is unedited photo that i take during this trip.

I hope you enjoy this journey . See you in another journey .