Bali Experience

Surely one of the most unforgettable sights in Bali is the spectacle of a dancer moving in trance. Possessed by the energy of the gods who are called down to earth at temple ceremonies, these dancers are able to perform extraordinary physical acts and to act as mediums for divine power. These performances are called Sanghyang, from the Balinese word for a revered deity. More than any other Balinese art form, they blur the lines between art and devotion, body and spirit, leaving a spellbound audience to wonder: are these really “dances”? Or are they holy religious rites? Is it the ecstasy of the soul or the disciplined training of limbs and mind that is responsible for their beauty and passion? The only way to decide is to witness a performance for yourself.

In the Sanghyang Jaran, or horse trance, a group of male dancers, accompanied by a chanting chorus who invite the gods to descend, fall into trance. Possessed by the deities, they rush to grab “horses” made of palm leaves, and ride these steeds through piles of burning coals, scooping up the fire with their bare hands and showering themselves with the red hot embers. When the dancers are brought out of trance by a priest equipped with healing holy water, they are miraculously unhurt, with no memory of the superhuman feats they have just performed.

The Sanghyang Dedari, or angel trance, is performed by two tiny pre-pubescent girls, who are chosen both for their beauty and for their ability to open themselves to the descent of the gods in trance. After weeks of training to develop their ability to enter this holy state, they are called upon to act as channels for the deities to cleanse their village of evil. As the ritual begins, the girls are dressed as angels, decorated with silk and gold and flowers. Because they are seen as too pure to touch the earth, they are carried around the village on elaborate litters or on the shoulders of worshippers, swaying and dancing with acrobatic grace. They are then brought to the temple, where they dance together in a perfect matched rhythm, even though their eyes are tightly closed. Their delicate movements are accompanied by the sound of a gamelan orchestra and a priest chanting blessings that are carried up to heaven on the perfumed smoke of holy incense.

The most famous and fearsome of all Balinese dances is the Calonarang, often called the Barong and Rangda or sometimes simply the Barong Dance by tour brochures. This performance tells the story of the evil queen Mahendratta, who was banished by her husband to the forest after she was found to be practicing black magic. When it came time for the queen’s daughter to marry, no one was willing to wed her, despite her breathtaking beauty, so scared they were of her mother’s dark powers. Furious with anger at seeing her daughter rejected, the queen transformed herself into the hideous witch Randga, completed with a tongue of fire and hair of flames, and rained plagues and pestilence down upon the land. The Calonarang dance tells the story of Rangda’s battle with the Barong, the legendary lion-like beast who protects the villagers from Rangda’s wrath.

Calonarang performances vary from village to village, and the dances staged especially for tourists are noticeably shorter. The traditional version of the dance, generally performed to accompany a major temple ceremony and frequently held in the dead of the night, begins with the princess’s servant crying because no one is willing to wed her mistress. The witch then takes the stage to instruct her servants to carry out her rampage of destruction. The performance next shifts to the village, which Rangda has turned into a scene of devastation, with people dying in droves from painful illnesses. Several men guard the graveyard, only to be surprised by a she-demon who, calling out suggestive remarks, tries to lure them from their duty. Finally, desperate to escape Rangda’s evil, the villagers appeal to the king for help. The king’s priest suggests that his disciple Bahulu marry the princess in order to discover the secret of the evil queen’s magic. Bahulu finds out that Rangda uses a holy book, which she reads upside down, and he steals it to give to the priest. Armed with this powerful weapon, the priest battles Rangda in a series of dramatic scenes. The Barong now enters the story, accompanied by his group of human followers. In this most famous segment of the Calonarang, Rangda uses her magic to send the Barong’s army into trance, causing them to turn their sharp keris daggers on themselves. But the Barong protects them from harm, and Rangda is finally pushed back to the graveyard.