Kuda Kepang: Enchantment in a Dance of Horses Information

Dressed like warriors and riding on bamboo or rattan horses as if going to battle, dancers perform superhuman feats such as eating glass, walking on coals, dehusking coconuts, even tearing live chickens apart with their bare hands and mouths, accompanied by music from a Javanese gamelan ensemble. Moving among the dancers, the pawang (shaman) and his assistants whip the dancers to ‘discipline’ them. But they seemingly feel no pain: each dancer is in a trance—their bodies taken over by a spirit invoked by the pawang in an earlier part of the ritual.  

The horses are not merely props for the warriors: painted in black, white, red and yellow (each colour carrying a symbolic meaning in Javanese culture), they are believed to be vessels for the spirits, and must be consecrated in an early part of the ritual.  

This is kuda kepang, a spiritual practice that stems from archaic animistic beliefs from Java, Indonesia. It is practiced regularly as part of family celebrations such as weddings, or communally to seek help from the spirits in cleansing the area.

At this year's edition of A Tapestry of Sacred Music, amidst fragrant incense, the practitioners from Kesenian Tedja Timur commence the performance of this ritual with buka gelanggang (silat, a traditional form of martial arts).

This is followed by sentherewe, an enchanting performance of kuda kepang, featuring eight skilled performers who portray warrior-dancers with grace and precision, accompanied by gamelan music. The finale is the ndadi, a segment in which four performers showcase their exceptional abilities—consuming and treading on shattered glass—in a state of trance. Complemented with the rhythmic and spellbinding beats of the gamelan, this performance is bound to captivate audiences, as it gradually progresses from its understated beginnings to its climatic and profoundly spiritual end.

Show Details

• Kuda Kepang: Enchantment in a Dance of Horses
• Date: 1 May 2023
• Time: 6.15pm & 7.45pm
• Venue: Esplanade Courtyard
• Address: 1 Esplanade Dr, Singapore 038981

Information Source: Esplanade