Saturday, January 14, 2012

My first temple...

This morning we were invited to a temple by our Topeng teacher, Pak Gusto. He was performing the Topeng Pajegan at a ceremony for a family in Ubud.

It’s totally legit to go to temple performances; you just have to wear the right gear, which for women is the kebaya (long sleeve shirt), sarong, and sash. I bought my ensemble from the market, it was a stressful experience and I was overcharged despite getting the entire outfit from one stall. Suffice to say, my shirt is way too big but there’s no way I’m going to go back to exchange.


Mine is cotton, but most of the women wear lacey ones (they are cut modestly, but are see through so they wear sexy slips underneath).

We met Gusto at his friend’s house then walked over. Before he danced, we got to hang out and listen to the gamelan (the cooler guys wore raybans and smoked clove cigarettes, ashing everywhere)...


Watch the women laying down the offerings...


And were entertained by the young girls dancing. The little one in the yellow kebaya in the front row was extraordinarily good!



Here is a bebe in mini temple gear.


Anyway, he got ready...

Putting on the layers and layers of his costume...


And then launched into the dance (after about an two hours of sitting around. Bali Time eh?).

He didn’t have a stage per say, so he performed between the gamelan and one of the temple complexes (infront of the Ubud nobility). There were 6 characters all up, he played four of them, his friend playing the other two.

Topen Keras
(The Hard Mask), also known as Topen Pengelembar (The Opening Mask): Young, early stages of life.

Topeng Tua (The Old Mask): Rich in experience, old.


Topeng Penasar
(The Interpreter Mask, on the left). Tells the story of his experiences as a youth and mature person (expresses wisdom etc). The guys in the hat is the High Priest. I don't know his Balinese name. Then comes Topeng Dalem (The King Mask). Leadership. Wasn't danced today, but these two talked about him an awful lot (according to Gusto in a debrief afterwards).

This was a servent/clown character, and he chatted with the Penasar character...


Topen Sidha Karya (“he who succeeds in his work”). He looked terrifying (this is in order to ward off evil in order to reach enlightenment).


It was great to watch the topeng in this context, it was surprising how little the audience paid attention, only responding to the light banter the king character was throwing at them (I’m sure they have seen it a thousand times before). The walk back home was pretty exhausting; almost every taxi driver in Ubud stopped and asked me why I was wearing temple gear. They were pretty amused.

Tonight a few of us are going to watch the sun set and have some drinks at Hotel Campuan. Bliss.

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