VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Silakupang is a combined art among Sintren, Lais or male Sintren dancers, and Kudakepang. It is said that Silakupang dance performance is believed to bring rain during a long dry season. Silakupang is a typical art from Cikendung village, Pulosari district, Pemalang regency, Central Java province. It is played for about an hour by ten dancers consisting of eight female dancers and two male dancers. The average age of the dancers is around 13 years. The dancers in this art must be virgins. If she is a virgin anymore, the attractions in this art will not run well. Silakupang art performances are also accompanied by the sound of Gamelan and Javanese songs sung by Sinden.

The Silakupang show begins by inserting one of the dancers in a bamboo cage wrapped in black cloth. Usually, in less than five minutes in a narrow cage, these dancers will change costumes. The change of costumes, which takes place fast, makes the audiences amazed, especially if you see the attractions of the dancers after getting out of the bamboo cage. The dancers will seem to lose consciousness, but they are still attractive in playing the Silakupang dance.

In addition to showing the magic of changing costumes and making up for Sintren and Lais players, Silakupang also presents quite thrilling actions for the audience. One of them is when the handler plays a whip to tell the Kuda Lumping dancers to move freely and wildly without rhythm. Now, Sikupang is an art that has been passed down from generation to generation through the ancestors of Cikendung Village. This art is performed during a long dry season, and now it has become a Pemalang tourism product that can be displayed at any time.