Nur Anani Maman Irman, Seeking a Stage for "Losari" Mask Dance
By
Regina Rukmorini
·5 minutes read
At a young age, Nur Anani Maman Irman decided to devote her life to preserving the Losari mask dance. Aside from performing on invitation at home and abroad, she continued to travel on her own initiative, looking for stages in remote villages where she could perform in cultural events.
Nicknamed Nani Topari Losari, the dancer frequently performs at modest events like “Sedekah Bumi” and “Ruwatan”, as well as various festivals. The seventh-generation dancer of a family of Losari dancers and puppeteers, Nani manages the Sanggar Purwa Kencana. The dance studio, built in 1977 and which specializes in the Losari mask dance studio, is an inheritance from her grandmother, puppeteer and Losari mask dancer Sawitri.
The Losari mask dance was created about 400 years ago by Panembahan Senopati, also called Pangeran Angkawijaya, for the purpose of spreading Islam. Its dancers perform wearing masks that do not have eyeholes.
Nani and her dance students perform in a variety of events on their own initiative, bearing all costs themselves.
As a traditional dancer, making enough money to travel and perform is not easy. On occasion, Nani accepts a variety of domestic and international invitations to perform. However, such invitations cannot be relied upon, because they are infrequent and non-permanent engagements.
Nani does not make an income from her dance studio, as lessons are free for all students. She only charges a fee for private lessons. However, she has not received any requests for private lessons in the last two years. "My grandmother always told me, this studio must have a more social function," she said.
Nani currently has 20 dance students whom she is training for free. Even under the direst financial conditions, Nani continues to perform. Often, her persistence produces a small “miracle": whenever she is in a desperate situation, she receives an invitation to perform.
"These unexpected occurrences male me believe that God is helping me manage my finances," she smiled.
Lifelong dancer
Nani was born into a family of artists. As far as she knows, her great-grandfather was a puppeteer and a Losari mask dancer. So was her grandmother. Her parents were also Losari mask dancers. Not surprisingly, Nani often performed as a "member of the group" as a child, traveling with her grandmother to perform in different places.
"In the past, I was often found sleeping among the gamelan instruments," she said.
They said I was a quick learner. I could pick up the movements from being shown just once
Nani began watching her family’s performances at 18 months old, and began training at the age of 19 months. She recalled that her grandmother and mother often praised her back then.
"They said I was a quick learner. I could pick up the movements from being shown just once," she said.
Her grandmother and mother’s words were like a blessing, and indeed they came true. At 2.5 years old, Nani won first place in the Cirebon mask dance competition, defeating other dancers who were in their teens.
Nani continued her dance training through school. When she entered senior high school, several lecturers at the Indonesian Arts Institute Bandung (STSI Bandung), who were also her grandmother’s students at the Purwa Kencana dance studio, offered her a scholarship.
"They said that Losari mask dancers must be intelligent. They need high education so they are not fooled," she said.
She accepted the scholarship. During college, she also studied many other dance forms, including Javanese dance. However, her focus was still the Losari mask dance.
However, she found it difficult to manage the studio properly because she was still in college.
The Losari mask dance went through a bleak period in 1990-2000, during which the Purwa Kencana had no students. Nani\'s grandmother passed away in 1999, and she had no choice but to take over the studio. However, she found it difficult to manage the studio properly because she was still in college.
Nani graduated cum laude in 2002, even though she had been taking care of the studio throughout college.
"Remembering [the situation] when I left the studio to study in Bandung, I eventually decided not to leave Cirebon again," she said.
She started anew, seeking students for the studio. She promoted the studio by participating in several cultural events and posting photos and videos on social media.
By 2004, her efforts began to show results. Dozens of students came, some from outside the city, and in time, she also had students from abroad.
With her passion for teaching, Nani decided to concentrate solely on the Kencana dance studio. She also decided to be a professional dancer, refusing a postgraduate scholarship to the Indonesian Institute of Arts (ISI) Surakarta and many offers to work at the Cirebon regency and West Java province tourism offices.
Aside from feeling that she would not be able to live under bureaucratic pressures, Nani said she also rejected the offers because of her grandmother’s advice to seek independent work and to not be anyone’s subordinate.
To continue the traditional art of the Losari mask dance and to nurture a new generation, Nani is now training two of her younger siblings’ children. The two children, who are now in senior high school, have been training since kindergarten.
For her, the Losari mask dance must always have a stage.
Nani continues to look for new students as she performs, introducing the Losari mask dance throughout the country and even abroad. For her, the Losari mask dance must always have a stage.
Nur Anani Maman Irman
Born: Cirebon, 5 June 1977
Education:Indonesia Arts Institute Bandung
Occupation:Losari mask dancer; head of Sanggar Purwa Kencana dance studio
Children:M. Tegar Pratama Putra Dena (13), M. Naizar Dwi Putra Dena (9)