Traditional Balinese Dancing

The cooking class was so amazing! We were thrilled that we had made an excellent Balinese meal! But what is dinner with out a show? In Ubud, about 7 traditional dances are performed each night in various temples and the Ubud palace. We were lucky enough to attend two performances during our stay.

The first dance we attended was the Kecak fire and trance dance. 100 men sat in a circle surrounding this tree like metal pole lit up with many flames. There was no music only chanting and singing from the men in the circle. It seemed like each man had his own part of the song. With their voices they imitated an orchestra. It was quiet astonishing hearing these men sing each of their parts harmoniously together. Then the dancers came out to share their story, the Hindu epic called Ramayana.

A brief synopsis of the story: A prince named Rama and princess Sita are wandering through the forest with Rama's brother Laksamana for they were wrongfully cast out of their kingdom. The demon Rahwana sees the beautiful princess and wants her for himself so he devises a plan with an equally evil prime minister Marica to steal her. Marica attracts Sita by turning himself into a golden deer. Sita, so enchanted, asks Rama to go catch it for her. After a while when she thinks he is trouble, she asks Laksamana to go save Rama. Laksamama nervous to leave Sita all alone draws a magic circle around Sita that would protect her from anything. Once the demon Rahwana sees Sita in the circle, he dresses as an old beggar for food. Sita leaves the circle to help the beggar and is taken away to Rahwana's palace. After Rama and Laksamana find out that Sita has been taken, they attack Rahwana with some help of their own friends such as the monkey king and Bird king who help them conquer dragons and win the battle. The performance ends with a man in a horse costume trampling  coconuts that were lit on fire! He extinguishes the entire burning pile with his bare feet alone! The purpose of the trance dance is to protect society against all evil forces and epidemics.

This dance was very entertaining and intriguing to say the least. It was wonderful to see the story enfold in front of us with the elaborate dancing and costumes.

The next dance we went to see another night was the Legong dance at the Ubud palace. We had front row seats! (meaning we sat on the floor in front of the stage!) haha but it was well worth it!

If you thought cheerleading for the patriots was impressive, these dancers were outstandingly intricate with their hand, head and even eyeball choreography! Their sycronization was insane, especially their eyes. They moved their hands and fingers so precisely unlike dancing we have ever seen! We tried imitating some of the hand movements the dancers did afterwards and found them to be nearly impossible! It must take ages to perfect their dance moves.

There was not much of a story with the Legong dance that we could tell. In the story description we were given, the dancers are supposed to be telling a similar story to the Kecak dance, in which good triumphs evil. To us, it looked like multiple dance routines one right after another just like a recital. Some danced with swords, others with fans, and some with umbrellas. Story or not, these dances were awesome!

We were so happy and appreciative that we got to see both performances and see the art of Balinese dance. They really were a wonderful treat!