Dances Invite the God part 3

           A great wave of artistic experimentation hit Bali in the 1920s, particularly in north Bali, where a group of young musicians started playing around with the traditional gamelan form. They came up with a vibrant and much brasher type of music, which they named Kebyar. The new sounds  soon struck chords with musicians in the south as well, and by 1925 had also inspired the talented young dancer, Mario, to choreograph a new piece. He performed this dance while seated on the ground and so called it Kebyar duduk ( seated kebyar ). It's a stunningly camp piece of theater, starring just one man, who alternately flirts with the gamelan, plays the kettle gongs ( Trompong ) that are placed in front of him, and flutters his fan in beguiling self-dramatization. Some year later, slightly different version of this dance was invented, the kebyar trompong,  in which the dancer sits and plays the trompong for only part of the performance, in between mincing coquettishly about the stage and making eyes at the audience.

KECAK DANCE

          Sometimes called the monkey dance after the animals represented by chorus, the kecak gets its Balinese name from the hypnotic chattering sounds made by the Capella choir. Chanting nothing more than " cak cak cak ", the chorus of fifty or more men use seven different rhythms to create the astonishing music that accompanies the drama. Bare-chested, and wearing lengths of black and white check kain poleng cloth around their waists and a single red hibiscus behind the ear, the men sit cross-legged in five or six tight concentric circles, occasionally swaying or waving arms and clapping hands in unison. The narrative itself is taken from a core episode of Ramayana, centering around the kidnap of Sita by the demon king Rawana, and is acted out in the middle of the chorus circle, with one or two narrators speaking for all the characters. 

Unlike nearly all other Balinese dances, the kecak has no ritualistic purpose and was in fact invented by a foreigner in the 1930s. When the German artist and musician Walter Spies was commissioned by a film director to put together a Balinese spectacle for the movie, The Island of Demons, he and his collaborator, Katharane Mershon, came up with the Kecak, drawing inspiration from the Sanghyang trance dances, in which the chorus chants the " Cak ....Cak...Cak " syncopation as part of the trance - including ritual.

LEGONG 

Undoubtedly the most refined of all the temple dances, the quintessentially Balinese Legong is rather an acquired taste, which can seem tiresome to the uninitiated because of its restrained movement and lack of dramatic narrative. Its beauty is all in the intricate weaving of arms, fingers, torsos and head. The legong is always performed by three pre-pubescent girls who are bound tightly in sarongs and chest cloths of opulent green or pink, with gilded crowns filled with frangifani blossoms on their heads. When village elders and former dancers are selecting aspiring legong dancers, They look not only for agility and vitality, but also for grace and poise, as the spirit of the legong is considered the acme of Balinese femininity. As a result, Legong dancers have always enjoyed a special status in their village, a reputation that endures long after they retire at the the onset of menstruation. In the past, many a legong dancer has ended up as a raja's wife or latterly, as an expatriate artist's muse and subsequent partner. 

The dance itself has evolved from a highly sacred sanghyang trance dance and take several different forms.By far the most common is the legong keraton ( dance of the court ), based on a classical twelfth-century tale from Java. It told the story of King Laksem, who is holding a princess, Rangkesari, captive against her will. Rescue is on the way in the form of Prince Daha, who plans to wage battle against King Laksem. The princess tries to dissuade the king from going to war, encouraging him to set her free instead of risking lives, but the king is adamant and setts off. As he leaves, he is attacked by a raven, an extremely bad omen, after which he duly loses the battle and is killed.

The performance begins with a solo dance by a court lady, known as the condong ( dressed in pink and gold ). She picks up two fans from the ground in anticipation of arrival of the two legong ( literally "dancer" ). Dressed identically in bright green and gold, the two legong enact the story, adopting and swapping characters with no obvious warning. The condong always returns as the raven, with pink wings attached to her costume. The final fatal battle is never shown on stage.

TAG
Taditional Gamelan, Kebyar duduk, Mario, Kebyar Trompong, Kecak DanceMongkey Dance, cak cak cak, Kain Poleng, Ramayana Dance, Balinese Dance, Sanghyang Dance,Balinese Legong,Legong Keraton