Wednesday, April 20 – Relaxed Day – Balinese Dance Show (Barong and Legong Dance From the Mahabharata)

After our busy few days, we took time out during the day to catch up on emails and blog writing. In the evening, Peter, Ray and I traipsed into Ubud to the Ubud Palace to see a performance of the traditional Barong and Legong dancing. Unfortunately, Robin didn’t feel so good, and stayed at the villa to recover.

The Barong dance is probably the most well known of the three traditional Bali dances, the Barong, the Lagong, and the Kecak, or fire dance. The Barong relates to the struggle between good (the Barong) and evil (Rangda). The Legong is the classical dance of the princely courts, and tells one of several stories from the Malat Hindu-Javanese literature. The Kecak is usually performed by men only and resembles a “hypnotic trance”. The music played is “Gamelan” and the orchestra is mainly percussion, but I also saw and heard some flutes.

The Legong story told was based on a “historical romance of the 13^th Century. Princess Rangkesari has been abducted by Prince Lasem. She refuses to yield to him. She hears that the prince she is betrothed to is coming to rescue her. Lasem will not free Princess Rangkesari and prefers to go to battle. On the way, he meets a raven, which is supposed to be a bad omen. He ignores this and continues on to battle and death!!

The dancing is highly disciplined with definite head movements, sharp eye movements, and beautiful hand and arm movements. The snug fitting costumes for the women, meant to exaggerate the female body, were brightly coloured gold printed patterns and exotic head dresses and together with the dramatic makeup serve to create an almost supernatural character.   

Neither the Barong nor the Legong dances were the full performance, but really just extracts to give the “tourists” a flavor of the traditional Balinese dances. No sooner had the first section of the Legong dancing finished than the rain surprised everyone watching by flooding down from the heavens causing a flurry of activity as everyone, audience, dancers, and musicians, scrambled to relocate to an inside hall.

Then the Barong dance started. The dance acts out mythology and myth and history are blended into one reality always narrating the story of good versus evil. The masks of the Barong and Rangda are considered sacred and must be blessed by a priest by sprinkling them with holy water taken from Mount Agung immediately prior to the performance. The Barong character has a lovely mix of strength, playfulness, and contemplation and is played by two people dressed up in the same costume. The Barong has a friend who is a monkey, and once again it is fascinating to watch the “monkey” characteristics expressed by the actor. The story told was adapted from the Hindu epic, the Mahabharata.

The evening was magical. It was living a mythical story in another world.