Topeng Dance

Topeng (mask) dance or Mask dance is a traditional dance originating from the city of Cirebon, West Java, Indonesia. Topeng dance created by Sunan Gunung Jati, at the time of yore started when Sunan Gunung Jati become cirebon king then came under fire from the prince Welang from karawang, prince welang very powerful because it has a sword named curug sewu, with its miracle that Sunan Gunung Jati could not match even though Sunan Gunung Jati had been aided by Sunan Kalijaga and prince cakrabuana. Finally Sunan Gunung jati decided to fight the supernatural powers prince welang it by diplomacy arts and dance groups formed.

This dance group danced by a beautiful woman named Nyi Mas Gandasari and the prince welang finally fall in love with Nyi Mas Gandasari and handed magic sword named curug sewu as proof of his love for Nyi Mas Gandasari, along with handover of the sword, Finally prince Welang also lost his power and then give in to Sunan Gunung Jati, prince Welang also promised to be faithful followers of Sunan Gunung Jati is characterized by the alternation of names into a prince Graksan.

Topeng Dance is then used as a medium of communication in spreading the religion of Islam by Sunan Gunung Jati in addition as well as for public entertainment.Topeng dance is played by one beautiful woman or several beautiful woman dancers, a sinden and some people who play a musical instrument accompaniment of rebab, kecrek, kulanter, ketuk, kendang, gong and bandhe. Dancers covered his face with masks while dancing that is why so-called Topeng (mask) dance. Clothing used in the mask dance is the Tokatoka, apok, kebaya, sinjang and ampreng.

Topeng dance is a fusion of dance arts, music and drama, one of the dance performance of this mask is a with story queen Kencana Wungu, a queen who refused to love prabu minakjingga. in this dance, queen Kencana Wungu played with used a blue mask that describes the character of the queen of clever and graceful, while prabu minakjingga played with used a red mask that describes a character ill-tempered, impatient and only use physical force only.

In the story the queen Kencana Wungu, dance masks were able to describe a wide range of characters a person such as personality, wisdom, leadership, love, crime and other aspects of life. various symbols found on the music that accompanied the dances and the masks are worn.

Along with the times the Topeng dance is now often shown on weddings, big events organized by local governments, circumcision and other celebration events.