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Published: March 12th 2013
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At Ubud's tourist information center there are free copies of the nightly schedule of traditional dance performaces. Each night around the city there are 9-10 different performances for about 75,000 rupiah a person to attend. They all last 1-1.5 hours. Full of traditional music and costumes, they mesmerize and captivate. I went to three of them.
I went to one my first night in Ubud. I admit I was persuaded by the architecture of the theater and by one of the cute kids helping them sell tickets. When I arrived that night, he remembered me and gave me a big grin and wave.
First the musicians played us some music. Balinese music is unlike any I've heard before and it takes some getting used to. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it, but now I love it. Then there were four separate dances that all went together to tell one story. I saw these four well-known dances:
• Barong Dance
• Jauk Dance
• Sisya Dance
• Calonarang Dance Drama
The story starts with an ancient, magical creature playing and relaxing in the jungle... and then a monkey shows up. The Jauk dance is about a
A side view
I love this costume. folk tale involving the meeting of a husband and wife for the first time. The Sisya dance has a group of girls practicing black magic. The grande finale is the Calonarang Dance Drama with a fight between good and evil, and they fight it out to the death. They close with a Keris dance (also spelled Kris) which is a type of knife dance. Absolutely amazing. I was hooked.
A few nights later I went to a Kecak and Fire Dance near my homestay. This one is different because there are no instruments, but rather 100 men sang and chanted and clapped the music for the whole performance. They sat in a circle around a floor chandelier and the dancers would enter and dance inside the circle. The story of the dances comes from Ramayana.
There were two more dances: the Sanghyang Dedari Dance and the Sanghyang Faran Dance.
The first had a female chorus and two child (virgin) dancers. It's a ritual dance, but even after reading the description they gave me I don't fully understand it.
The last dance was the most impressive. A bonfire was made of coconut husks and placed
in the center of the floor. A man in a trance rode in on a wooden horse and danced in the fire, kicking up sparks and embers with each step. Two sweepers periodically tidied the husks back into a pile, only to have the horseman dance through it again. I wasn't sure I believed he really was in a trance, but afterwards, he came to quite suddenly, and something in his face and mannerisms makes me think it's real.
My second to last night in Ubud I went to a performance at the palace. I'd visited in the daytime (like most people) and really wanted to see it lit up at night. This was probably the best one I saw, but also a bit touristy. They performed the Legong Trance and Paradise Dance. It was comprised of five dances:
• Legong Dance
• Jauk Dance
• Lencana Agung Ubud
• Kebyar Trompong
• The Ballet of Bimaniu
It's hard to pick a favorite because all were executed so well and the acting was superb; really helped me understand the story and brought the characters to life. Some even told jokes which the audience loved. But mostly it
was just the expressions on their faces, the way their eyes darted about, and the care with which they took their steps that made this performance stand out for me.
My only regret is that I didn't get to see more performances!
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