Kuda Lumping ("flat or leathered horse") is a traditional Javanese trance-dance in which male dancers act out riding flat effigies of horses. Some dancers appear to enter trance, seemingly possessed by the spirit of the horses. Kuda Lumping may be performed in traditional village ceremonies of transition for births, circumcision, marriage, house dedication and death. It may also be performed as a strictly artistic exhibition in touristic and government-sponsored cultural performances. But it is in the village performances of Kuda Lumping, like the one shown in this video, where one may witness seeming spirit possession with the dancers speaking in otherworldly voices, moving wildly, falling unconscious, and eating strange things like wood and even glass. They appear to be guided and driven by the spirits just as a rider mounts and guides a horse. I have been present at Kuda Lumping ceremonies in villages in Java on several occasions. My impression is that the Kuda Lumping experience is simultaneously cultural ritual, artistic expression and fun entertainment, as well as a means of social and psychological catharsis. Catharsis in the sense that in close-knit, village communities, where Javanese convention requires individuals to be unfailingly restrained, respectful and responsible, Kuda Lumping allows the young male dancers a culturally sanctioned outlet to act wildly, to say and do things that would normally be completely unacceptable. I do not mean with these observations to suggest that I am qualified to dismiss Kuda Lumping as lacking any authentic metaphysical dimension - it does seem to me like the dancers are possessed by some power outside and beyond themselves, something akin to what I have also witnessed and felt in Balinese ceremonies and in Haitian vodou rituals. But while understanding the trance dance in Kuda Lumping as a metaphysical phenomenon is not inconsistent with the worldview of many Javanese people, as a non-Javanese outsider who has never participated in the dance itself, it is impossible for me to comment with any conviction about any metaphysical influence the dancers may be experiencing. Certainly, however one approaches it, Kuda Lumping is an engaging and wonderfully creative form of cultural expression, and in the vicinity of Mt Merapi in central Java where this performance occurred, Kuda Lumping is the most popular form of village entertainment, surpassing, I am told, even the much-loved wayang kulit shadow-puppet play performances. Filmed versions of Kuda Lumping presented for local audiences as part of a village ceremony in Java are rare, so I want to share this with the hope that it might be a useful resource for researchers and students of Javanese culture despite the clip's obvious technical flaws. I happened upon this performance unprepared and uninvited. It was the end of a very long and busy day in in Java where I was working on a documentary about the life and work of the artist Kartika Affandi. It was about midnight and I was heading back to the guest-room at Ibu Kartika's place from a local cafe where I had gone to use the wifi to upload photos to the project website, so I had the camera and laptop with me but no other gear. On the relatively quiet and still country road I realised I could hear some kind of gamelan music faintly from somewhere in the distance. I can never resist the call of the gong, so I rode off following the sound, and eventually found this performance which was well in progress, about 2 kms from where I started. I proceed to shoot for the next 2 hours, in the dark with no camera light, among the dancers in the dusty courtyard with no lens cloth (hence the specs of dust on the lens which I did not notice at the time) and using the camera's rather limited internal microphone as I had no external microphone or sound recorder with me. So, my apologies for this rather rough images and distorted audio - I hope the viewer can enjoy it for what it is nonetheless. After the performance I apologised for coming uninvited. I explained that I was interested in Javanese culture, that I had travelled from overseas but was staying nearby, and that I had come seeking knowledge and experience. A stern-looking older man replied "When you first arrived I observed you carefully, and I perceived that you have good intentions. Otherwise I would have ordered you to leave immediately. Welcome." So I was befriended by the people there, and I learned the performance was part of a wake that had started hours before I arrived. They invited me to return for their next performance, but it was scheduled for the day I was leaving. Instead, I returned for an afternoon musicians rehearsal a few days later. There is a clip from that afternoon rehearsal here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSjC0VdlzcU

• published: 13 Nov 2015
• views: 172