GSJ Ensembles

Balinese Dance

Balinese dance requires years of arduous physical study, as the teacher pushes and pulls the dancer’s body into the correct and vital postures and often complex choreography. As well, a good dancer must have a deep understanding of the form of the music, able to cue the musicians to start and stop, speed up, or make an accent. Dance teachers hum a sort of ‘mouth music’, always relating dance steps to the music that accompanies them.

Balinese dance tells a story, but not by literally miming it. A dancer’s skill lies in how well she or he can portray a character—or a character type—in a story. Everything about the dance supports the portrayal of this character: the movement, the costume, the facial statement or mask, as well as the musical accompaniment. Even before someone starts dance study, his or her teacher will look at the body to decide what character this person should portray. Perhaps this person really looks like a classical refined Legong dancer in face and body. Another dancer’s body and attitude might be ideal for the androgynous and flashy Kebyar Duduk. Characters are considered either halus (refined) or kasar (coarse), or somewhere in between.

Sacred and Secular Contexts
Dance and music are performed in a variety of both sacred and secular contexts. In Bali, a ceremony is not considered complete without some sort of music and dance, the performance of which is actually considered an offering to the gods. Dancers in the inner temple face the alter and gracefully waft incense, while others may dance backwards through the temple gate, welcoming holy water brought from a sacred spring. The gamelan plays for hours, enhancing the ceremonial atmosphere with ancient instrumental pieces considered village heirlooms.

But music and dance for secular entertainment are found in all kinds of venues: one person idly picking out tunes on bamboo tingklik marimba on a hot afternoon; thousands of fiercely competitive spectators urging on their gamelan ‘team’ in a battle-of-the-bands style showcase of performance virtuosity; an entire bamboo ensemble set up in the road, accompanying the flirtatious and participatory joged dance; performances at hotels for foreign tourists; or the absorbing and hilarious stories of drama gong or the arja opera.