Dance & Drama

Dance and drama have historically played an important role in Balinese society. Through this medium, people learned about the tales of the Ramayana, Mahabrata and other epic stories from Balinese history. The following are a brief descriptions of some of the more well-known dance-dramas that can be seen at regular performances, throughout Bali.

• Baris 

This is warrior's dance. It is usually performed by men, either solo or in a group of five or more. Te dancers try to portray the full range of emotions displayed by a warrior-anger, courage, ferocity and passion. This dance requires great skill, with the artist having to display the whole range of inner emotions, mainly through facial expression.

• Barong & Rangda

This is basically a story about the struggle between good and evil. Good is personified by the Barong Keket, a strange, fun-loving creature in the shape of a shaggy semi-lion. Evil is represented by Rangda, a witch. Ultimately, the two characters engage in battle, at which point the Barong's keris-bearing followers rush in to attack Rangda. The witch, however, uses her magical power to turn keris knives in upon their owners, who fall into a trance and start trying to stab themselves. The Barong uses magic to protect his followers from the knives. In the end, the Barong triumphs and Rangda retreats to recuperate her strength for the next encounter. All that remains is for priest to help the Keris dancers out of their trance, with the help of a little holy water. The Barong and Rangda dance is a very powerful performance and is not taken lightly by those involved.

Kechak & Fire dance The most famous of the Balinese dances, the Kechak, originated from the Sanghyang dance choirs who chant a distinctive Kechak-Kechak accompaniment, The Kechak, as a dance, developed in the 1930's, in the village of Bona, where it is still performed regularly.  The themes is taken from the Ramayana and tells the story of Rama, who with the help of the monkey army, tries to rescue his wife from the clutches of the evil King Rawana. This is a very exciting dance to watch, and is performed by a large group of chanting men sitting in a circle, waving their arms and swaying to and from, in time with the chants.

• Legong

Tells the story of Princess Rangkesari, who is held captive against her will by the King Lakesmi. Rangkesari's brother, Prince Daha, gathers an army together to rescue his sister. Princess Rangkesari then tries to persuade Laksmi to let her go to avoid a war, but he denies her freedom. On his way to battle, Daha is attacked by a raven, a bad omen, and is later killed in battle. The dance only takes the story up to the point where the king departs for battle, and it is performed by three people, two Legongs and their attendent, the "Condong". The Legong is a very classical and graceful dance , and is always performed by prepubescent girls, often as young as eight or nine years old.

• Sanghyang Trance Dances

The Sanghyang is a divine force that enters the bodies of the entranced dancers. There are a number of Sanghyang dances, but the most common are the Sanghyang Dedari and the Sanghyang Jaran. The Sanghyang Dedari is performed by two girls, and is very similar in style to the Legong; the main difference is that the Sanghyang Dedari girls are supposedly untrained and can keep in perfect time with each other, even though their eyes are firmly shut. The accompanying music is provided by a female choir and a male Kecak choir. 

In the Sanghyang Jaran, a boy dances around and through a fire, riding a coconut palm hobby horse. This is frequently called the Fire Dance for the sake of tourists. In both dances, a priest is always on hand  to help bring the dancers out of their trance-state at the end of the performance.

• Topeng (Mask) Dances

In Bali, mask are considered sacred objects and are revered as such. The best ones are traditionally carved on auspicious days and the dancers who wear them are believed to be possessed by the spirit of the mask. Characters can be ideantified from the shape of the features; noble characters always wearfull, refined masks; while evil is represented by bulging eyes and garish colours. The characters are silent, but communicate using complex gestures of the hand, head and body. The story lines usually follow the popular myths, or episodes from history.

• Wayang Kulit (Shadow Puppet)

Wayang Kulit is one of the great story-telling traditions of the Javanese and Balinese. The Wayang show normally consists of a small 4-piece orchestra, which provides the musical accompaniment, around 60 puppet carved out of flat pieces of water buffalo hide and the Dalang, or puppet master. The Dalang has to be both incredibly skilled, as well as knowledge. He not only manipulates all the puppet, but has to provide a different voice for each one. Good characters normally speaking in ancient Kawi and evil or coarse characters speaking Balinese. The Dalang , therefore, has to be fluent in both language.

Paintings

The places synonymous with the traditional form of Balinese painting, is the village of Kamasan, near Klungkung. Up until the beginning of this century, and under service of the Kings of Gelgel and Klungkung, it was only natural that the painters and illustrators, called Sangging should settle in this one area. Aside from the Kamasan school of painting, there now exists a wide range of different styles. Some following characteristics have been briefly listed.

Wood Carving Wood carving, like stone carving, has traditionally featured largely in temple and palace architecture with little freestanding sculpture work produced commercially. Immaculately carved demons and mythical beings decorate pillars, door panels, lintels and window shutter with the aim of protecting the buildings from evil intruders. Scenes of legendary figures placed within floral decor set a more pleasant and educational tone.

When producing tools and objects for everyday use, sculptors has a much freer hand in choosing subject matter. With the arrival of European influences, woodcarving started to develop along more innovative and commercial lines.