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.