File puptcrit/puptcrit.0805, message 173


Date: Thu, 8 May 2008 10:49:46 -0700
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
From: Kathy Foley <kfoley-AT-ucsc.edu>
Subject: [Puptcrit] female dalang


There have always been women dalang in the families of the north 
coast--there wayang and mask dance and ronggeng (female courtesan 
dance) done by either a male impersonator or a female) have been 
intertwined (supposedly since the wali who converted the island to 
islam in the 16th C invented these sister arts.

Women were more often asked to do dance or ronggeng than wayang, but 
they did wayang as well (sometimes with interludes where they got up 
and did ronggeng sequences). When I was first in Sunda in the late 
1970s where wayang was more all male, there was one female dalang who 
had started out a singer but become a dalang and was said to be 
lesbian (living with her troupe sinden).  I was considered an odd 
bird as I was a femle studying wayang golek. Anna Ingleby (sp?) in 
England does Wayang Golek too. Some other Sundanese girls were active 
in the l980s--but most haven't had a full career.

Central Java had female dalang--though not too many. Nancy Cooper's 
thesis from the U Hawaii is about one. Bali was said to be all male 
prior to 1979 when I Nyoman Sumandhi taught me and a few other 
females in the US wayang in the summer of 1974, had me perform and 
went home to train and encourage the first female dalang in Bali, 
Nondri and others started performing at this time, there were all 
Indonesia female dalang events and every wayang area would send 
women--usually girls from the art schools coming from dalang 
families.  Not many of them have continued with full professional 
careers--as with dancers and ronggeng, the tendency is to stop with 
marriage (late nights, large groups of male musicians, etc). Vocal 
technique is predicated (as with topeng) on a male voice, so wayang 
is not going to be a natural for the female though mony can do it if 
encouraged.  In the current dalang class in Bali their is a woman TV 
personality--I haven't seen her perform.

So there are not loads of puppeteers, but mask dance, wayang wong 
(human puppetry), etc. are all part of the same family and women have 
been active both in the past and in the present, but they are not 
always doing the puppets though they are capable.

best,

Kathy Foley

-- 
Kathy Foley
Professor, Theatre Arts
Editor, Asian Theatre Journal
J-15 Theatre Arts
1156 High St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
  tel. (831) 459-4189
fax (831) 459-5359
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