{"id":2990,"date":"2017-11-15T14:30:56","date_gmt":"2017-11-15T19:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/indonesian\/?p=2990"},"modified":"2017-11-15T14:30:56","modified_gmt":"2017-11-15T19:30:56","slug":"balinese-dance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/indonesian\/balinese-dance\/","title":{"rendered":"Balinese Dance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dance is a huge part of Balinese culture. Known as tarian Bali<\/strong> in Indonesian, Balinese dance is unique, dynamic, and very expressive. There are several different types of Balinese dance, most of which are closely related to Hinduism. If you’re traveling to the Island of the Gods, taking in a dance performance should be high atop your list of things to do. In this post, we’ll take a closer look at some types of Balinese dance with a few photos and videos to give you a better idea of what it looks like.<\/p>\n

An Intro to Balinese Dance<\/h2>\n
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The evil Rangda.<\/p><\/div>\n

Balinese dance usually tells a dramatic story. Most types of Balinese dance are based on the Hindu epic Ramayana<\/a>. Central to many stories depicted in Balinese dance is the battle between good and evil. This is usually waged between the demon queen Rangda<\/strong> and the king of spirits Barong<\/strong>. If you’re going to see a performance in Bali, it’s a good idea to read up on the Ramayana and other Hindu stories before going, as you won’t understand the dialogue on stage.<\/p>\n

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Unique costumes and vivid movements.<\/p><\/div>\n

Balinese dance is known for its vibrant, colorful costumes and precise, stylized bodily gestures. The movements are very physically demanding, and there’s a lot of attention to detail in Balinese dance. When you watch the dancers, you’ll be amazed at their ability to balance the bulky, heavy costumes almost effortlessly while they execute the dynamic movements.<\/p>\n

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Hands and eyes are used a lot.<\/p><\/div>\n

While watching a Balinese dance performance, you’ll notice that hand and eye movements are very important. The eye movements – know as\u00a0seledet <\/em>– must be done with the eyes wide open and no blinking. There are several different hand and finger gestures, known as mudras<\/em>. Interestingly, there are more mudras<\/em> in India than there are in Java or Bali. It’s believed that some of the movements were forgotten as the dance styles moved from India to Indonesia.<\/p>\n

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A gamelan orchestra.<\/p><\/div>\n

Most Balinese dance performances are accompanied by a gamelan<\/em> orchestra. There’s one famous style of Balinese dance that doesn’t use a gamelan<\/em> orchestra, but we’ll get to that in a minute.<\/p>\n

UNESCO Status<\/h2>\n
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A UNESCO treasure.<\/p><\/div>\n

A few years ago, Balinese dance was officially recognized by UNESCO<\/a>. The famous organization designated nine different types of Balinese dance as intangible cultural heritage. There are three categories that these dances fall into:<\/p>\n