Beauty and harmony are ageless in Balinese dance

Beauty and harmony are ageless in Balinese dance

By Marina Kaneti

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Many would describe Bali as the island of
the gods. It might be more accurate to characterize Bali as an
island where nature, people, and gods create one magic world of
art, drama and dance.

Many theater directors and theoreticians in the West have
recognized Balinese drama as the most organic and synthetic
theater tradition in the world of art history. Today, however,
critics, would point out the commercial side which has turned
Balinese dance into a major tourist attraction deprives it of its
artistic qualities.

Nevertheless, this new fashion is still based on the art's
substance rather than people's snobbism. Moreover, higher quality
and more indigenous theatrical forms can be seen northward and
inward towards Ubud and the surrounding villages.

It is hard to find a clear-cut line between nature, myths,
gods and human relations in Balinese dance performances. The
expression is both diverse and simple, sophisticated and natural,
spiritual and instinctive. Music, voice, body movement, dance,
mask, costume -- everything is unified in one expression. The
performers communicate with gods as if in ritual trance and
establish contact with the audience through narrators or through
direct contact -- as in a Western classical theater.

It seems that there is nothing extraordinary about the themes
and main characters in the dances: war, love, betrayal,
seduction, good and evil, gods, goddesses, people and animals.
However, all these different themes and characters are
represented and intertwined in one dance.

Different genders mix into the fabric of the drama-dances.
There can be epics, tragedies and comedies, romantic drama,
ritual trances and entertaining dances in a single performance.
Italian Comedia de L'Arte, for example, is also rich in
expression and function, thus easily reaching the public. It is
still very much confined to the grotesque style of the European
carnival tradition. Also, Comedia de L'Arte appears to be part of
history while Balinese drama is transcultural and beyond history.

Although the Balinese dance drama has ancient origins, it
seems timeless. Time has not touched the core substance. The
classical Legong dance dates from the 13th century, but the
recently created Kijang Kencana dance, showing the interactions
of a deer herd, is similar to a Legong dance style. The
definition of time seems completely irrelevant. Similarly, the
present form of Kecak dance originated in the 1930s, but its
chorus tradition dates from ancient times.

The Kecak dance uses a choir, like the ancient Greek theater,
to link the action with the world of gods. The sequence of
harmony and disharmony in the voices and body motions of the
choir creates the impression of waves and thus trance, which
reaches a transcendental reality. This chorus stands in contrast
to the Greek one which is static and uses voice as the main means
of expression of higher consciousness or simply describes the
story or emotional and mental state of the characters. The Kecak
or monkey choir also splits into a demon and a monkey army which
take the sides of the evil and the good, respectively.

An ancient ritual, the Sangbyang (trance) dance, marks the
origin of the Kecak dance, while a local myth of the eternal
fight between the good spirit Barong and the evil spirit Rangda
is the foundation of the Barong-Kris dance. The two opposite
spirits act through all characters in the drama and appear in a
direct showdown only for a moment toward the end of the
performance, a characteristic which shows another side of the
Balinese synthetic drama. Also, there is no clear victor at the
end; the good does not necessarily win.

This less moralistic and more earthly myth-drama brings the
realization that the good does not win only by the force of its
virtue. It can win only through constant struggle.

Yet in other performances, it is difficult to recognize what
is good and what is evil. In Sunda and Upasunda, for example, the
fight between Barong and Rangda is brought to illustrate the
fight between two brother giants (Sunda and Upasunda) who are
equal in their powers and qualities and who decide to conquer
Heaven. The gods grant the two with extraordinary powers because
of their religious devotion, but the latter in turn decide to
conquer Heaven!

Multifunctionalism is a characteristic form of expression in
all dances. Animals and gods seem human, and humans can be god-
like to allow for a link between the characters. In the Barong
dance, for instance, the monkey plays the role of a clown. The
evil force, Rangda, and the good force, Barong, are half-animals,
half-human as far as their roles, expressions, and actions are
concerned.

It appears that symbolism reaches its highest level in the
Legong dance where two girls perform a male and a female role,
i.e. Prince Lasem and Princess Rangkesari. The harmony and the
perfection of the form in this dance stand in contrast to the
drama and the conflict. The elegant play of the two dancers
smooths out the idea of conflict. Thus it is the slight tension
between content and expression which makes the Legong dance so
beautiful.

The Sunda and Upasunda dance drama is more theatrical than
other dances, particularly in comparison to Legong. There the
drama action and relations are more direct and explicit. It is
difficult to recognize where the gestures and pantomime end and
the dance begins. This is namely the magic of the Balinese dance
drama: the expression is so rich and simple that one cannot
distinguish the different elements of which the drama language is
composed.

Compared to other Asian traditional synthetic dramas, Balinese
dance drama is impressive with its lightness and diverse
symbolism. The Japanese Kabuki, for example, is rich in symbols,
but lacks the Balinese smoothness of expression and the easy
access to the audience. The Beijing opera can be very dynamic and
picturesque, but lacks the simple and direct expression of the
Balinese dance.

Similar to other Asian traditions, Balinese drama also uses
masks, particularly the Topeng (which means face, or mask) solo
dance and, in other dances, animals and supernatural forces. More
often, however, the face is not covered and the play of the eyes
is one of the essential components of theatrical expression.
Also, even the body is in a more static position (particularly
the male characters), while the eyes, arms, and hands, including
the fingers, "talk" to other characters or the public.

The Jauk solo dance, for example, exhibits a demon whose main
means of expression is concentrated in the various vibrations of
his long nails. Like nerves and strings the nails reflect his
emotional state while the face remains a motionless mask.

Regardless of the angle from which the Balinese drama-dance is
observed, one easily discovers the multi-language and multi-
functional nature of the content and art from. Heaven and Earth,
human and divine, are combined into one whole. The drama is
natural and complex; the details are small and fine, but the
impression that they make is grand. The drama combines and
conveys synthesis and the dance reveals magical powers.

In the Gabor dance, the goddess of death and evil spirits,
Durga, attacks Prince Biminiu who is of the great Pandawa
lineage. The prince can prove his special powers only through his
refined dancing. Similarly, one should see the Balinese dance-
drama in order to understand and feel the power of this small
island. A small place where time has stopped, Bali is very much
the place where art and culture have made the realm of the
immortals more accessible.