THE BARONG DANCE and THE KECAK DANCE (BALI)

As a follow-up to my previous Post I am now listing a few postcards showing the BARONG dance and the KECAK dance, which are famous dances of Bali.

When sitting in an audience watching a show, it is usually rather awkward to take photographs, so I thought I would list these few postcards instead, hoping that it will give you a better idea of the dances and the costumes.
THE BARONG DANCE:
The Barong is a mythological creature like a lion, and the Barong dance is a story-telling dance about the fight between good and evil.  On the costumes of the male dancers (first postcard), the white squares represent the good and the black squares represent the evil.

THE BARONG DANCE

 THE BARONG DANCE

(The barong, and a male dancer dressed as a monkey).

 A BARONG DANCER

(The costume of a Barong dancer).

THE ORCHESTRA

(The Barong dance)

THE KECAK DANCE:

The Kecak dance is a unique dance which is not accompanied by an orchestra, but by a choir of seventy men.  The choir is famous for its' "clucking" sound.  It has its' origin in an old ritual dance, "SANGHYANG" or "trance dance".  In the Sanghyang dance a person in a state of trance communicates with the deities or ancestors.  Using the dancers as a medium, the "deities" or ancestors convey their wishes.  In the 1930's the old Indian epic Ramayana was included into the dance.

 THE KECAK DANCE

 ENJOY!

Carole

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