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Topeng in Toowoomba"The Story of Duswanto and Shakuntala" Sat 1st Feb, 2003
Members of Toowoomba's very own Balinese orchestra, have been working night and day, with artist in residence, actress and dancer, Kerensa Dewantoro and created a traditional Topeng (mask dance drama) performance to add to the group's repertoire. Toowoomba's gamelan has been performing for the past 28 years, and over that time they have received funding for various projects and Balinese teachers to come and work with them. This year they have been funded by Toowoomba City Council's Regional Arts Development Fund and Arts Queensland to bring Kerensa back to Toowoomba after four years, to develop a new dance drama and performances for the Woodford Folk Festival and for Toowoomba. The story features ten different masks and a dance by the youngest generation of the Toowoomba group and other special guests dancers Ibu Sri and Nyoman Suma. The group was also joined by members of Brisbane's Balinese Community and drummer extraordinaire Efiq from the spectacular fusion jazz band, Krakatau. Notes on the Dance Drama production - "The Story of Shakuntala and Duswanto". Topeng Pajegan is a sacred mask performance from Bali and it will be used to tell the story of Shakuntala and Dusawanto from the Mahabarata - an Ancient Hindu text found throughout S E Asia. Topeng is a style of popular, sacred theatre that is balanced with refined full mask dances and hilarious vulgar half mask characters that tell the story. Topeng is usually performed during temple ceremonies or important life ceremonies in Bali as entertainment for both the human audience and as an a offering and entertainment to the Gods. The performance will often educate it's human audience - sometimes passing social, moral or political commentary, in the course of the story it may explain the history and rituals behind a ceremony. The story is simply a skeleton - a frame from which the different half mask characters can digress into whatever aspect of life they would like to focus on. It is a structured improvisation with a finely tuned relationship between the musicians lead by the drummer and the dancers. Kerensa keeps Gamelan Giri Jaya on its toes with elements of lewd gesture and comic improvisation to refined and graceful dances and characters. Kerensa takes advantage of the flexibility of Topeng and draws parallels
between issues that are happening in the world at the moment with Duswanto
a king who was once fair and wise, whose land and people were happy,
and how he got corrupted by greed and power when under the spell of
the witch. She draws attention to what happens to the environment when
a government is only motivated by greed and ego.
Above: Gamelan Giri Jaya |
