REYOG PONOROGO ART PRESERVATION AMIDST THE CRISIS OF CULTURAL AWARENESS AND MODERNIZATION IN INDONESIA
Indonesia is a nation that is rich in cultural, racial, ethnic, religious, linguistic and customary diversity with its motto being Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (diverse but still one). With the large amount of wealth that exists in Indonesia, of course the role of today’s young generation must also be skilled in developing the culture that exists in each respective region, one example is Reog Ponorogo. Reog Ponorogo is a traditional dance originating from Ponorogo, East Java, Indonesia which consists of Singa Barong with Dadak Merak, Bujang Ganong, Warog, and Jathilan. Reog Ponorogo is performed at various events such as weddings and national holidays.
The Reog Ponorogo dance has a series of dances starting from the opening dance, which is usually danced by the Warog with their face polished in red which depicts a dashing and brave person, complete with all black clothes so that their dashing figure stands out even more. These dancers depict the figure of a brave lion, then dancers on horses enter and in several scenes Ganongan enters by performing funny dances. After the opening dance is finished, enter the main scene, the contents of which follow the conditions. This Reog dance is performed. If it is related to Circumcision, it is usually told with the story of a warrior. If it is at a wedding, a love scene will be shown, but what is special about Reog Ponorogo itself is the lion. Barong or Merak Singa Barong is a lion head mask woven from peacock feathers and weighs around 100 kilograms.
Currently Reog Ponorogo is starting to be known by the outside community, but this situation is inversely proportional to the situation of the Ponorogo community, currently the younger generation or the Ponorogo community itself is starting to like the Reog Dance less. This can be seen when there is a village event or what is usually called a village clean-up. The Ponorogo community displays Reog Ponorogo in each village.
Currently it is still happening but judging from the response or people watching it is very reduced. Not only that, the current generation doesn’t know the origins of Reog Ponorogo, quite a few people just like watching it but don’t know the story implied in Reog Ponorogo’s appearance. The crisis regarding the learning of Reog art is very detrimental to Ponorogo culture, of course, because the heirs of the art do not know their own culture. Judging from the barongan craftsmen in Ponorogo, the average person is relatively old, currently the next generation who crafts is very rare in terms of learning, the younger generation is still does not yet have a response to pay attention to its own culture, if this problem is not continued to be paid attention to then Ponorogo will lose its culture,
The struggle of the people of Ponorogo to be included in the 39th list of Intangible Cultural Heritage by Unesco in 2023 is not an easy struggle so that the younger generation is invited to continue to preserve this art, and the people of Ponorogo will not get bored of passing on their culture to the younger generation, namely by holding various kinds of events to attract the younger generation to perform dances, for example the Ponorogo Creative Festival, PCF is an event that is held every year by inviting the Ponorogo community to participate in this PCF event.
Many young people are involved in this event, such as committee members, performers, and other sections. By holding this PCF event, the young generation will be interested in learning about the culture in Ponorogo. Of course in this PCF it is not only the Reog dance that is performed but there are several exhibitions, live music, Jaran Thek and many more so that not only the younger generation can recognize the culture but children also have a good response to being able to learn this art. There is also the Grebek Suro event.
This event is a cultural event for the Ponorogo Community and is held at the same time as the anniversary of the City of Ponorogo in the form of a people’s party with performances including the National Reog Festival, Cross-Historical Parade, Heritage Ceremony, Heritage Carnival, Cultural Carnival, and Risala Larungan.
Prayers at Telaga ngebel take place in various events, the culmination of which is the National Reog Festival, namely a festival that competes in Ponorogo’s Reog art and is attended by dozens of participants from various regions. This Reog performance is different from the appearance of Reog at weddings, Bersih Desa, Reog Festival. Standard, the complete formation are Prabu Klono Sendono, Warog, Jathilan, Bujang Ganong, many Reog groups have joined schools in Ponorogo and they collaborate in presenting the FNRP (Ponorogo Reog National Festival), the response of the younger generation in participating in this event It’s very good that they are very enthusiastic in terms of preparation.
They prepare this performance from a long time ago with the aim of showing their best. In this performance the creativity of the younger generation is very prominent because year after year the performances given always provide good formation so that the jury is amazed by the performances presented, even recently the Reog Ponorogo Festival has started to expand to the international arena with participants from abroad taking part.
By: Balqis Melana Putri Nurcahyati
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