Bali - A Tale of Two Dances

Another of our driver Putu’s less than stellar recommendations was what turned out to be a total tourist trap dance performance. We pulled up to the theatre along with the tour buses (a bad sign), declined the opportunity to pose with a young lady in traditional dress, sat on the bleachers and bore witness to an indifferent performance by untalented actors/dancers with out-of-sync musical accompaniment. The costumes were pretty good but the impenetrable story drawn from Hindu mythology seem to involve an inordinate amount of flabby middle-age men striking each other with bundles of leaves. A few attempts at crude humor were thrown in, but that only reinforced the notion that this presentation should not be taken seriously.

In complete contrast, we attended a real Balinese dance performance known as Legong at an outdoor stage on the beautiful grounds of the Agung Rai Museum of Art (ARMA). This form of dance is very stylized with beautiful costumes, complicated footwork, intricate finger movements, and exaggerated eye expressions. Very different from anything we’ve seen and amazing to watch. The musicianship was also really impressive. We loved it.

The "Bad Dance" as we came to call it. At least some of the costumes were good.


Legong, the "Good Dance"


Beautiful setting for a performance.





They can even dance sitting down.


Video: Legong Dance


Video: Balinese Gamelan Music



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