Exotic Mask Dance

Posted by craft on

May 18, 2008

Mask of Klana is an exotic art craft from Indonesia, its popular known as Klana Topeng. Klana topeng also the name of a dance with tells the story of a king from Bentar Angin, Klana Sewandana, who falls in love with Dewi Sekartaji, the daughter of a king from Kediri. Because of his love, Klana loses control and behaves in a crazy manner. The dance represents the actions of flirting, dressing up and parading back and forth in front of the mirror. It is as if Klana was facing Dewi Sekartaji, but in reality he is only facing himself.

The dance of Klana topeng also has a philosophical side. Klana Sewandana symbolizes a king having a devil, like character, which will be defeated by another character having a holy attitude. This other character is called Pangi (as well as Panji Inu Kertapati, Panji Kertapati, Panji Carangwaspa and Panji Kuda Sesiring).

As mentioned earlier, during the Klana topeng dance, a mask is worn. This dance occurs during the second scene of a greater performance and its part of the larger whole is called ”Sabrangan”. The character in this scene is the antagonist in Panji story. This scene includes some giants from Bantar Angin and Mendung Prahara. However, the main character in this scene is Klana Sewandana.