In the afternoon, after a light rain in the forest area on the outskirts of Tasikmalaya City, two men dressed up with thick lipstick were seen preparing to perform acrobatic agility performances typical of Sundanese land. This activity is played by two men dressed as women.
Not far from the location of the crowd, a number of men dressed in all black worked together to erect two 16-meter long bamboo sticks into two 60-meter deep holes. Various rituals were carried out as a condition for the show to run well and smoothly.
Lais acrobatic art is an activity carried out by individuals on a rope tied to both bamboo poles without wearing body protection. This art is still shown to the people in West Java on certain big days. Lais acrobatic art comes from a place in the Sukawening area, Garut Regency. The art was taken from a local resident named "Laisan" since the Dutch colonial era. The acrobatic ability to rotate the body on the rope, wrap the rope in the middle of the body and twist the body on the rope is the hallmark of acrobatics itself.
This ability was passed down directly from the third generation of Lais art, Aki Ahudin (72), to Suhada (34) to protect it from extinction in an all-digital era. "Several of these movements must be learned one by one until they are proficient. You can't do it all at once because the difficulty level is different, it doesn't only use your muscles but your brain as well," said Suhada. Aki Ahudin and Suhada are two generations who are three decades apart in maintaining the values of performing arts such as the acrobatic art of Lais. They are members of the Padepokan Jatidiri Nurcahya Putra Galunggung. The Padepokan led by Salim Nur Zaman is still trying to preserve these activities.
