| Balinese
Dances |
Balinese Dances
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With
over 1000 troupes, dance
is at the very center of
the Balinese life. On Java
dance is the prerogative
of the courts, but on Bali
it's most prevalent in the
villages. The Balinese consider
Javanese dancing boring,
while Javanese think Balinese
dancing noisy and vulgar.
Dancers on Bali perform
for the pleasure of the
gods, prestige, and the
entertainment of friends
and family. Gambuh,
wayang wong and topeng are dance drama, when legong is
the classical dance of the
princely court. Gambuh
is the oldest known
dance drama in Bali, it
is inspired by the Javanese
literature. Very few active
village gambuh troupes remain.
The wayang wong, is a drama where
the dancers play the roles
of the shadows puppets of
the Javanese Wayang kulit.
The players are masked and
their movements follow the
style of the shadow puppets. |
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 Topeng
Dance
Sacred masked theatre based on
the literature of genealogical
legends (babad); with wayang
kulit, one of the traditional
media of cultural instruction.
A set of archetypal masks representing
dynastic figures is danced in
sequence, to the accompaniment
of gamelan orchestra. |
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 The
Vibrant Ritual
These ceremonial dances anddramasdirect
ly relate to religious ceremonies
by serving as an offering, a prayer,
or an exorcism of evil spirits.
Presented with the active participation
of the pemangku (the people's
priest and caretaker of the village
temple), they are a dramatic form
of contact with.... |
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 Legong
Keraton
In legends, Legong is the
heavenly dance of divine nymphs.
Of all classical Balinese dances,
it remains the quintessence of
femininity and grace. Girls from
the age of five aspire to be selected
to represent the community as
Legong dancers. Connoisseurs
hold the dance in highest esteem
and spend hours discussing themerits
of various Legong groups.
The most popular of Legongs
is the Legong Kraton, Legong
of the palace. Formerly, the
dance was patronized by local
rajas and held in e
puri, residence of the royal
family of.... |
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 Calonarang
It may be the bewitching hour
on the first night of the full
moon, when long shadows spread
like phantoms on the ground, that
village crowds gather round a
clearing near the temple of the
dead to watch the drama of Calon
Arang,... |
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 Barong
And Rangda
The Barong is the magical protector
of Balinese villages. As "lord
of the forest" with fantastic
fanged mask and long mane, he is
the opponent of Rangda the witch,
who rules over the spirits of darkness,
in the never ending fight between
good and evil. During the Galungan
Kuningan festivals, the Barong (there
are many types, including barongket,
barong macan, and barong bangkal)
wanders from door to door (nglawang)
cleansing the territory of evil
influences. |
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 Janger
The flute begins an eerie tune,
and faraway voices chant a strange
song that flows from a loud melody
to a nearly inaudible high pitch.
Two girl singers appear wearing
splendid, floral crowns with multi-coiored
spikes. They advance, allowing another
pair to enter, until twelve girls
have filed on stage. Slowly, they
kneel opposite each other, cocking
their heads and darting their eyes
to accent the rhythm of the orchestra. |
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 Wayang
Kulit
This is a puppet show, usually
performed in rituals ceremonies.
The puppets is made out of a dried,
engrave and graphicaly coloured
Cow skin. It shape relates to its
character. There are monster puppet
that characterized a bad person
and a good person will be presented
with a goodlooking puppet. In every
" Wayang Kulit "
story it always tells the
audience that a good person
always win and the bad one will
be loss.Traditional shadow
-puppet theatre, generally based
on the Mahabharata and Ramayana
epics; performed late at night on
ritual occasions for the pleasure
of the gods and the moral and spiritual
instruction of the community. The
central player is the priest-puppeteer
.... |
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 Sang
Hyang Dance
In the temple, two girls kneel before
a brazier of smoking incense. The
pemangku priest makes offerings
to the deity of the temple, requesting
protection for the village during
the trance ceremony. Behind the
girls are seated a group of women
who chant the Sanghyang song,
which asks the celestial nymphs
to descendfrom heaven and dance
before the people through the bodies
of the girls: |
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Arja
is a Balinese form of theaterical
combining dance ( known as OPERA
by the international society ) with
its indigenenous story ,singing
and comedy. The characters speak
with the highest Balinese'
caste manner both in the dialogue
and quoting poetry. What they say
is then translated into day today
Balinese common language by the
clowns. |
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 Baris
Dance
Just
as the Legong is essentially feminine,
Baris, atraditional wardance, glorifies
the man hood of the triumphant Balinese
warrior. The word baris means a
line orfile, in the sense of a line of.... |
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 Jauk
Dance
as a classical solo
performance expressing the movements of
a demon, Jauk is derived from a
traditional play in which all the dancers,
wearing frightening masks of the raksasa
or demon type, enacted episodes from
the Kawi versions of the Ramayana
and Mahabharata. Like the dramatic
Baris, the Jauk play was prefaced
by.... |
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 Oleg
Tamulilingan
a modern dance choreographed by the late
M ario in 1952, Oleg Tambulilingan has
become a popular addition to the repertoire
of dances included in a Legong performance.
Originally, it was danced by only one
girl and called Oleg, a general term meaning
the swaying of a dancer. Later, a male
part was added to make it a duet, and
the dance gained a new theme depicting
two bumblebees (tambulilingan) flirting
in a garden. The female enters first.
In light, quick ....
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 Kecak
Dance
Contary to belief, the Kecak dance itself
not particularly old. It was probably
firsts performed in 1930. A The chorus
is originated from a very ancient ritual
of Sanghyang ( trance ) Dance, which is
until today is still performing this ritual
dance in some of the villages. During
the Sanghyang, a person is
in a state of trance, communicates with
God or the acestors and convey his wishes
to the people. ... |
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Barong
Landung
On the island
of Nusa Penida there lived an incestuous
demon, Jero Gede Mecaling, the Tusked
Giant. Once he came to Bali, followed
by a horde of devils. He landed in South
Bali in the form of a Barong and waited
there while his henchmen went inland to
destroy. The people grew alarmed and consulted
a priest whotold them they must createanother
Barong like Jero Gede Mecaling; that alone
could scare away the demon. So they made
a big Barong and succeeded in frightening
the giant back to Nusa. Since then, the
Barong has been used for driving away
illness and evil spirits. |
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 Kebyar
Duduk
Like the Baris, the Kebyar is a soloexhibition
dance, but of a more individualistic kind.
The Baris portrays the movements
of a generalized Balinese warrior. In
Kebyar, the accent is upon thedancerhimself,who
inter pretseverynuance of the music in
powerful facial expressions and movement.
Kebyar originated in North Bali
around 1 920, but the .... |
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 Cupak
Cupak,
a boisterous man possessing a huge belly,
is Baii's notorious glutton. Cupak's story,
performed as a comic dance, is more like
an epic drama: it has a kingdom, a mysterious
forest and deep ocean; a villain, princess,
witch and hero, disaster, resolution,
and great joy. |
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 Pendet
is the presentation of an offering in
theform of a ritual dance. Unlike the
exhibition dances that demand arduous
training, Pendet may be danced
by everyone: male and female pemangkus,
women and girls of the village. It
is taught simply by imitation and is seldom
practiced in the banjars. Younger
girls follow the movements of the elder
women who recognize their responsibility
in setting a good example. ... |
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