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The Performing Arts in Bali

Dance, drama and music are much more than mere performances. They are spectacles of color and sound, but their main purpose is to please the deities and ancestral spirits. Art, if not a ritual in itself, is a part of the ritual. The arts express the values that the Balinese hold dear, such as balance and harmony. Taksu, or spiritual charisma, is the pinnacle of energy which every Balinese performer strives for to mesmerize both the human and divine audience.

Bringing the body down from the tower to place in the sarcophagus, at a royal cremation in Gianyar, 1992.

Almost every ritual has some type of art form associated with it. A temple festival has gamelan music and probably a shadow puppet play and a mask dance. A wedding might have a Joged (flirtatious social dance), and cremations have marching gamelans accompanying the procession to the cemetery. The Balinese love anything that is ramai (festive, full and colorful), and the more the better. It is not surprising to have at least two different types of music happening at the same time at a temple festival.

Part of the reason why there is so much artistic activity on this tiny island is that the soil, rich in volcanic minerals, produces an incredible array of agricultural produce. This easy availability of food allows more leisure time in which to make art. Yet the old adage that every Balinese is an artist is simply not true. What is true is that children (particularly boys) are encouraged to create. Any village that can afford it, will have its own gamelan orchestra as well as music and dance clubs.

Dance of Topeng Tua, an old man, one of the introductory characters in the Topeng dance-drama.

Balinese Religion

Balinese religion is a blend of ancestral worship, animism, Hinduism and Buddhism. The traditional village (desa adat) is the center of the universe for a Balinese, and the concept of mutual cooperation echoes in the interlocking rhythms of the gamelan. Every village has at least three communal temples and their festivals are occasions for music, dance, theater and puppetry to honor deities and ancestors. Certain traditional rituals must be conducted in temples to ensure health and prosperity for the villagers. Particular deities enjoy seeing plays about themselves during the temple festival. Some villages are known for a specific form. When someone dies, the family may go to a trance medium to find out what the deceased would like to have done during the cremation. Classical performing arts will be sustained in Bali as long as their ritual aspects continue to have meaning.

Balinese performing arts are not static. Many changes in musical and dance styles have occurred over the years and changes are taking place due to the influx of wide-ranging influences from outside Bali. It is important to note that while most Balinese prefer the classical forms, they also welcome new, innovative art forms.

An Expression of Cultural Values

There is no word for art in Balinese; seni (art) is an Indonesian word. The Balinese refer to an "artist" as a skilled person (tukang) rather than an artist. The word for dancer or actor is pragina, which means "someone who beautifies." Since art is such an integral part of all ritual, it cannot be easily taken out of context (although tourism certainly has changed this concept!). Traditionally, performers do not receive payment when playing for a temple festival or ritual; they do it for devotional reasons.

One of the basic philosophies in Bali is rwa bhineda ("two differences"). Like the Chinese theory of yin-yang, this is the principle of balance in the world: male/female, day/night, good/evil, right/left. It is expressed in the performing arts in many ways: "good" puppets are on the puppeteer's right while "bad" ones are on his left. Dance movements are executed on both sides, and musical instruments are tuned so that two tones from two different instruments create a harmonic. Balance is of utmost importance to the Balinese. In dance, the basic position is a mastery over imbalance. In the puppet world, the ideal character has balance in personality.

Villagers bringing Barong and Rangda masks to Pura Saraswati, a royal clan temple in Ubud, to receive offerings from the people.

Character types in performance are divided into alus (refined) and keras/kasar (strong/coarse) with male and female characters within these two, a reflection of this system of duality. Traditionally, a dancer performed one type which conformed most to her or his body type: a tall and slender dancer would be more suited for a prince or princess while a short and robust dancer would play a servant or warrior. Today, dancers tend to be well rounded and can play multiple roles; specialization is now fading.

Performance Venues

The traditional kalangan (performance space) can be a simple clearing in front of someone's home, a field in the village or a large permanent structure, open on three sides with an elevated stage. The audience sits on the floor or on chairs. The kalangan could be in the outer courtyard of a temple, with a langse (split curtain) at one end. This is flanked on two sides by the gamelan players and the audience sitting wherever they can see. Generally, there are no tickets, reserved seats or timetable. The performance begins when the performers have all gathered, been fed and are made up. In the village, most shows do not usually begin until around nine at night and they last for several hours. Some dance-dramas go on until the wee hours of the morning while tari lepas (non-dramatic dances) may last only a few hours.

Protocol

Visitors are welcome to watch performances at temples, family rituals and official events as long as they are dressed properly and do not disrupt any of the proceedings. In a ritual setting, this means wearing full pakaian adat (temple clothes). This is extremely important as the Balinese have stringent rules about dress. If the performance is at a public gathering, then modest and neat clothing is the norm. Photography is usually allowed, except for some of the most sacred forms. In most cases, flash and video are permissible, but using flash while worshippers are praying is frowned upon. If there is a particular performance you want to see in a traditional venue, such as a temple festival, get there early and prepare to wait (enjoy some kopi Bali at a local warung or food stall and get to know the locals). These venues are usually outdoors so bring along something inconspicuous to sit on, such as a small mat.

In the Barong dance, performed here at Batubulan, clowns are allowed the freedom to express themselves through make-up and facial expressions.

The Temple Compound

Within a temple compound are three courtyards. The jeroan (innermost courtyard) is where the majority of shrines are located and images of the deities are housed, and where people come to pray and bring their offerings to be blessed. The jaba tengah (outer middle courtyard) houses the gamelan pavilion, temple kitchen and a few shrines. The jaba (outer courtyard) is outside the temple with a large hall for performances and where the gambling and food stalls are located. The Balinese reduce their actions in the outer courtyard, lessen their words in the middle courtyard, and once in the innermost sanctum they quiet their thoughts. The temple is activated in ritual every 210 days (or in some cases every 12 lunar months-called an odalan) by being decorated with flags, gilded cloths and offerings. These rituals are rooted in Agama Hindu Bali or the Balinese Hindu religion, which is an integral part of the everyday life of the Balinese.

A dancer at Ubud Kaja prepares for his role as the heroic bird Jatayu in the masked form of Wayang Wong, which depicts the great epic of the Ramayana.

Division of Three

The Balinese believe that things can be divided into three parts: utama or the highest part (head), madya or middle part, and nista or lowest part (feet). When at a performance, particularly in a ritual setting, it is best to not be seated higher than someone else. Standing on a temple wall or steps to get a better view is considered very rude, but most Balinese will be too polite to tell you. Please do not walk or stand in front of people praying. Remember that these performances are often rituals and not an entertainment.

Sacred and Profane

Since the advent of mass tourism in the 1970s, there has been a lot of discussion about what constitutes sacred dance. The Barong-Rangda dance, which is performed daily in Batubulan, for example, is actually a re-enactment of an ancient ritual pared down to 60 minutes. Yet the masks used for tourist shows are not the same ones used for rituals. Context establishes the degree of sacredness, but the Balinese prefer not to see their most sacred dance and music forms put up on a stage. This is something that scholars and artists are still trying to agree on.

In 1971, a seminar was held by LISTIBIYA (the Balinese Arts Council) on Sacred and Profane Dances. The general consensus was that the degree of sacredness depended on where the performance was held. A tripartite division emerged: wall ("offering") refers to the most sacred forms, which often but not always occur in the jeroan (innermost courtyard of a temple). These forms are the ritual or offering themselves, as in the case of Wayang Lemah ("daytime" shadow puppetry, performed without a screen and without much of a human audience), Topeng Pajegan, Rejang, Baris Gede, Mendet and Sanghyang. The second category is bebali. These are forms done in conjunction with a ritual or ceremony but are not necessarily the ritual themselves, such as Gambuh, Wayang Wong and Wayang Kulit. The third category is balih-balihan meaning "that which is watched" and has no direct religious or ritual importance. All tari lepas (non-dramatic dance) as well as Joged Bumbung, Janger and others fall into this secular category.

Yet the lines are blurry; the exorcistic Calonarang drama, for example, which often results in the performers and/or audience falling into trance, is done in the outermost courtyard yet could be glossed as wall. For the Balinese, the most important aspect is to have the utmost respect for the forms meant for their deities and that no defilement takes place. But when Sanghyang trances done for tourists have fake trance, it gives pause for thought.

Taksu

In Bali, there is no specific deity of dance or music or puppetry. Performers pray to their ancestors before leaving home to ensure success. They also pray at the temple where they are performing for taksu to descend into their souls. Taksu is an energy, a type of spiritual charisma that exceptional artists (and healers) are blessed with. It has little to do with technical precision, as there are performers who are perfect in their execution but lack that extra something, while there are those less skilled but who are able to bind their audience to them. Taksu can be passed down from a parent to a child or from a teacher to a pupil. A performer can have taksu at one performance and the following night fall flat. A mask can possess taksu and assist the actor in making it come alive. An entire gamelan orchestra can possess taksu regardless of who plays in it.

Having taksu is possessing the ability to hold your audience, to become magnetic and enchanting (in the full sense of the word) on stage. In the West, some might call this stage presence, but it is much more than that as there is a definite connection with divine forces. A performer prays for taksu to please the mortal audience and the divine one as well.

Another concept which assists in the attainment of taksu is the tripartite idea of bayu (energy), sab da (inner voice) and idep (thought). In order for taksu to appear, these three elements must be in balance. A dancer (or puppeteer) must have energy in order to move, his or her inner voice or convictions must be present in order to perform well, and there must be clarity in the thought process.

Even though the number of performers has increased greatly over the last century, those with taksu have decreased. Modernization and globalization are partly responsible for this. The attention span is shorter and concentration is less strong than it was in the past. Musicians, dancers and puppeteers have reasons other than solely devotion (money and fame among them) for performing at a temple ceremony. Just a generation ago, children in a village would get so excited about performing at the next temple festival with their uncles and fathers and brothers accompanying them on the gamelan and all their neighbors and relatives watching. Today there are after-school activities, video games and, of course, television. All of this has an impact on the arts, yet there never seems to be a shortage of dancers and musicians.

Blessing of the Barong and Rangda. Sacred masks are given offerings of food and flowers, placed on the ground, to appease the spirits of chaos.