Legong dance

Legong Dance

For example, if undertaken in the context of religious ceremony, the Barong Dance is a ritual theater with original exorcistic background. It is about restoring the balance between good and evil and the duality of life, the ritual contest between chaos and order. On stage in Kesiman or Batubulan aspect is of course lost and more like a musical comedy colorful (with some slapstick elements.) However, commercial Barong Dance performances are very interesting and you can not miss the chance to see one.

Students of the witch (in the background: Sadewa)
This is the story behind the Barong Dance:
Final battle between Barong (good) and Rangda (evil), preceded by a drama called Calonarang. Calonarang was a legendary queen who was accused of practicing black magic. According to some versions of the story, she killed her husband by pointing with his left hand to him, on others, he just left it plain. However, he became known as the Widow (Rangda) and transformed into horrible Leyal (witch-monster), which eventually killed by a holy man who assumes the form of Barong.
Each performance begins with a short prologue which has a scene with the monkeys in the forest and has nothing to do with the story other than to show the good character of the Barong. After a prologue, two young girls do Legong dance, which is very abstract and difficult. After this, start the main story:


Boar attacked the royal ministers
A young prince, Sahadev, would be sacrificed to a hideous monster magicians, and two royal maids are discussing opportunities to prevent this, when Kaleka, a student of the witch, enters the stage. The waiters are very concerned about his appearance and calling the prime minister. The prime minister arrived, followed by the queen alone. Queen was in despair at having to sacrifice his son, but Kaleka, pupil of witch casts a spell to him and the queen changed her mind, began to beat her son and command prime minister to lead Sadewa to the cemetery where the witch lives. Initially, the prime minister refused to do so, but the student witch casts a spell on him as well and Sadewa `s fate seems sealed.


Rangda now attack the prince eternal Sadewa
The following scene finds poor prince was tied to a tree in the cemetery, waiting for death at the hands of magicians. The Lord Shiva however, have mercy on Sadewa, appears in the guise of a priest (but the flowers are thrown on stage when he appeared to indicate that he is actually god) and make the prince eternal. When a student witch, who had been followed, notice of this, he turned first to the wild boar, then into a giant bird. Sadewa win over both. But then the witch eventually turned into Rangda, the evil of all creation. In order against him, Sadewa himself turned into a Barong (a kind of lion-style) which represents the power of good. Rangda and against the Barong, but as their power is balanced, none of them can win.


Keris Dancers
The Barong is now calling for his followers, the kris dancers, to help him. Kris dancers Rangda their magic attack with a knife (dagger), but he cast a spell on them so that they fall into a trance and stab themselves with their knives than him. However, Barong make one last appearance and the release of the dancers keris from the curse. In the final scene the priest pours holy water on the kris dancers and wake them from their trance. (All photos on this page have been taken at the performances of the Batubulan Dance Company.

The Legong Dance usually show at Jimbaran Bay while Dinner on the Beach.
Start : 08.00 pm - 09.00
Duration : 1 hour.

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