Bali Traditional Dance

As the sunset over Uluwatu cliff, around 800 spectators sat encircling the stage eager to observe the famous Uluwatu kecak dance about to start.
Right at 6 p.m., Around 50 bare- chested dancers entered the stage; a priest dressed in white sprinkled tirta (holy Water) and chanted prayers for the soon-to-start dance. While performances of the Ramayana story can be found in traditional Balinese dance in other places on the island, including Kesiman in Denpasar and Batu Bulan Gianyar, none of them can beat the exotic of a Kecak dance some 50 meters above sea level on a cliff, with the sunset and surround sound of the breathtaking waves as its backdrop.

The Kecak Dance in Uluwatu includes snippets of the love story of Rama and Shinta, the demon King Rahwana who kidnapped Shinta, and the helpful Laksmana who assisted Rama in saving Shinta. In one full our the dynamic movements of the dancers - a mixture of supple, funny, upbeat and intense movements, and their continuous a capella melodic chants told the story. The figures of Hanoman, Delem and Lenda-Lendi performed fresh multilungual jokes in Balinese, Indonesian, English and even Chinese, adding even more color to the presentation.

The monkey king Hanoman confidently sat among the spectators, joking and taking photographs with his fan, his interaction adding the Uluwatu experience. But the fun came to an end and was soon replace by suspense when Hanoman was surrounded by a circle of fire. He played with the fire balls, kicking some to the spectators who screamed in surprise and fear. At the end story, Hanoman managed to break free from the fire circle and rescue the goddess Shinta as the sun Wholly set over  the cliff and darkness fell. The Uluwatu Kecak Dance is well worth watching and can be enjoyed daily at Uluwatu temple in Uluwatu Village. Except on religious Balinese holiday such as Galungan, Kuningan and Nyepi. The Temple is about one hour by car from Kuta. The temple is also reachable by Trans Sarbagita feeder mini buses from Kelan, Tuban and Garuda Wisnu Kencana bus stops.

Balinese Dance

Possibly the most dance in Bali is the Legong dance.This classic Balinese dance, has become the foundation for the basic routines of many Balinese dance. The original Legong danced is by two teenage girl who have not yet reached maturity and was developed in the palaces in Bali during the 19Th century. The story goes that a prince of Sukawati had a dream where he is dying of some sickness. In his dream, he sees 2 girl dancing gracefully with their young and flexible bodies, all accompanied by the harmonic sounds of Gamelan. When the prince regains his health, he reenacts his dream in a dance repertoire.

Audience normally miss the the fact that during a Legong performance, there is dance called Condong which is usually the prelude to Legong. Condong is usually performed solo and the dancer wears a similar costume to that of the Legong dancer but the colour is different - rather than a gold, she wears pink. The dancers also wears a headdress, which take the form of antlers and is made from frangipani flowers. Even though it is a prelude, the Condong performance in its entirety takes about 7 minutes.

The routines of the Condong Dances share similarities with Legong, but it does not depict a story like legong dance. Condong cancers must master several Balinese Dance techniques, because most of the routines are difficult. The routines include imitating a bamboo tree being blown in the wind by squatting low and swaying the upper part of the body gracefully as well as the distinctive movement of the eyes which creates different facial expressions from one routine to another. At the end of the performance the Condong dancer usually presents a pair of fans to the two Legong dancers before finally withdrawing backstage.