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Balinese Dances |
Wayang Bali
Balinese Wayang Kulit shadow play takes place as a part of
temple celebrations or other religious gatherings. The purpose of the Wayang is to bless
the occasion by inviting ancestral spirits to visit the location.
Bountiful offerings are presented before, during, and after the performance, which may
last from three to four hours. Balinese Wayang is not an all night performance as it is in
Java. Plays usually begin sometime between nine and eleven o'clock.
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The Stage and Screen |
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The screen is a sheet of linen about nine feet
wide and four feet tall. The top and bottom are bordered with bands of black. It is
stretched between two vertical bamboo poles. These poles are sometimes part of a bamboo
platform built specially for the event. The poles can also be tied to the pillars of an
existing "Bale" (bah-lay), a cement or tile platform with a thatch or tile roof
and open walls.
The top of the screen is lashed to a horizontal bamboo pole bridging the top of the
verticals. The bottom of the screen is staked into a long section of trunk from a banana
tree supported by shorter pieces of banana tree set perpendicular and beneath each end.
The banana log is used to hold the characters upright and in place on the screen by
stabbing their pointed handles firmly into the soft banana bark.
Balinese Wayang is not always in shadow. Daytime Wayang is known as Wayang Leah. In place
of the screen is a horizontal string supported about a foot above the banana log by two
branches from a "Dap Dap" tree mounted at the ends.
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| The Balinese Dalang |
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The Balinese Dalang is often a kind of priest,
performing acts of offering and cleansing. Mantras are recited before and after the
performance. A primary purpose of shadow play is for the Dalang to make holy water. The
water is used for prayer and to bless the area and participants.
Holy water is prepared by adding flowers to water from a high
stream and reciting mantras with incense and sprinklings of rice. There is also an
abundance of offerings presented at the time of making holy water.
Many traditions are upheld by the Dalang. Wayang may only be successfully performed on an
auspicious day. The Dalang must enter the area from a particular direction. Before
crossing the threshold, the Dalang judges the breath in his nostrils and steps in with the
side of his body which is clearest.
A Dalang is usually accompanied by two assistants who sit to his sides in performance.
They assemble the screen, help prepare the characters, and maintain the lamp. The
assistants must know the stories very well to be effective, anticipating the needs of the
Dalang.
A meal of the finest available food is offered to the Dalang, his assistants, and
musicians before they perform. Sitting music begins when the Dalang has finished eating
and is discussing local events with the hosts. The actual overture begins only when the
Dalang is ready and cues the players.
The Dalang's pay for the performance is relative to the economic state of the hosting
family or community. It could be only a few chickens or whatever the people can afford, or
it could be a higher price. Either way, it is the responsibility of the Dalang to
facilitate the religious event to the best of his ability, regardless of other factors.
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| The Wayang Play |
The lamp is lit and the overture begins with a
chiming Ginoman fanfare. The first event is the dance of the Kayon, the tree of life.
Characters are then removed from the Gedog one by one. Those that will be used in the
episode are placed on the banana log with their backs to the screen. Others are placed to
the sides. The overture continues until all the characters have been sorted and removed
from the banana log. The most prominent characters in the episode are the last to leave
the screen, an indicator to the audience of which episode has been chosen.
The Tree of Life in the center of the screen awakes again to a strong wind blowing. This
leads into a series of character meetings and travels which reveal the episode.
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View the Tari Kayon
Dance of the Tree of Life 210k |
| There is usually a love scene and a sad scene
at some point in the story. Other events include chases, magical archery, and battle. The
play ends with the Kayon planted firmly in the center of the screen with the attendants
Tualen and Mergdah at it's sides. The Gamelan plays a series of closing pieces and the
Holy Water is made |
| Characters |
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The most popular Wayang characters in Bali are
from the Mahabarata, Arjuna, Bima, Yudistira, and Krishna, and their opponents, Duryodana
and Karna. Others include the monkey Hanuman, and the lovers Rama and Sita from the
Ramayana.
Also popular are the servants. On the good side are Tualen and his son Mergdah. Delem and
his brother Sangut support the other side. Two other servants appear regularly, Bu Tua,
the old lady, and Suratma, the gate keeper of heaven.
Characters on the side of good always enter the screen from the Dalang's right. Other
characters enter from the left.
Different styles of Wayang often use an entirely unique set of characters, such as Wayang
Arja, and Wayang Gambuh, very old classical forms featuring the Panji stories.
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The Gedogan Shadow Box |
The Dalang begins the overture with three
thumps of the palm of his hand on the closed top of the wooden box which holds the
characters. The characters are then removed one by one during the overture. The empty box,
or Gedog (Geh-Dohg), is then used as an instrument. The vertical side of the Gedog closest
to the Dalang is loosely hinged so that it produces a sound when slapped shut.
The Dalang uses small wooden mallets held between the toes of the right foot and in the
left hand to strike the Gedogan in rhythm. These sounds add punctuation to speech and on
screen action. They also cue the musicians to change, speed up or slow down.
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Music |
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Balinese Wayang of the Mahabarata, known as
Wayang Parwa, and Wayang Sapu Leger, for exorcism, is accompanied by Gamelan Gender
Wayang. Gender Wayang consists of two or four metallophones with ten bronze bars each
played with wooden mallets. |
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