Balinese Dance

The Kecak is an unusual Balinese dance for a couple of reasons.

First, there is no musical accompaniment. The gamelan is not there. Rhythm is provided by a chanting 'monkey' chorus. The polyrhythmic sound of the chanting provides the name,
'Ke-chak'.
The story line for the Kecak is taken from the Ramayana.

Prince Rama goes hunting for a golden deer and his beautiful wife is kidnapped by the evil Rawana.

Story is secondary in this performance, though. If you want to see the story of the Ramayana, you should see a Ramayana performance.

The Kecak is a triumph of style and mood, rather than story. Watch the faces of audience members. More than any other Balinese dance, the Kecak turns every viewer into a child, wide-eyed and transfixed.

Barong dance is narrating the fight between good and evil. This dance is the classic example of Balinese way of acting out mythology, resulting in myth and history being blended into one reality.

The story goes the King of Bali in the tenth century, was condemned by Erlangga's father because she practiced black magic. After it, the King of Bali summoned all the evil spirits in the jungle, the leaks and the demons, to come after Erlangga. A fight occurred, but she and her black magic troops were too strong that Erlangga had to ask for the help of Barong. Barong came with Erlangga's soldiers, and fight ensued. Rangda casted a spell that made Erlangga soldiers all wanted to kill themselves, pointing their poisoned keris into their own stomachs and chests. Barong casted a spell that turned their body resistant to the sharp keris. At the end, Barong won, and Rangda ran away.

The masks of Barong and Rangda are considered sacred items, and before they are brought out, a priest must be present to offer blessings by sprinkling them with holy water taken from Mount Agung, and offerrings must be presented.

He took the costume from Kebyar Legong, but to move in a squatting position he had to hold up the train with one hand as he moved and this became the hallmark of the dance. With no narrative to tell, the Kebyar dancer presents a range of moods from coquettishness to bashfulness, and from sweet imploring to anger. The mood of Kebyar Duduk is determined by the music, and the dancer works in close co-ordination with the entire gamelan to interpret its shifting colors.

Legong Kraton is a classical dance of Bali which has a very complex motion pembendaharaan and bound by the structure of percussion accompaniment that supposedly received influence from Dance Gambuh. Legong Keraton word consists of two words namely legong and palace. Legong word probably derived from the word "leg" which means a graceful dance movement. Graceful. While the "gong" means gambelan. "Leg" and "gong" were merged into legong which implies a movement bound, terutamaaksentuasinya by gambelan that go with it.

The story of the Legong is very stylized and symbolic and one should know the story before actually watching the performance. The Legong Keraton dance involves three dancers - two legongs and their 'attendant', the condong. The legongs are identically costumed in gold brocade, which is bound so tightly that it is a mystery such agitated and rapid moves could be made. With elaborately made-up faces, plucked eyebrows that are boldly repainted, and hair decorated with frangipanis, the dancers relate the story with captivating movements.