All You Need To Know About Traditional Balinese Kecak

By: Angelika Natasha Utomo

The infamous tropical getaway on earth, Bali Indonesia still has its own sets of mysteries, these mysteries come in form of traditional dances where the locals believe that the dance signifies the war between Gods.  The legend of Ramayana passed down over generations is still portrayed into a critical ceremony called Tari Kecak, where movements describe the story.

As one of Bali’s ancient traditional dances,  Tari Kecak has a certain correlation with the Balinese beliefs, where the religion of Hinduism developed the story of Ramayana. The legend of Ramayana is based on historical warfare between the god Rama and the demonic King Ravana. Thus, the performance of Tari Kecak attempts to convey the antiquity of Balinese culture to the audience.

The dance “Tari Kecak” can be seen to perform daily at 6 pm according to Bali’s time region. The performance takes place in the Hindu temples Tanah Lot and Uluwatu Temple. The dance starts as the male dancers form a circle around the female dancers who can be seen at the center of the circle, the males who circle the female dancers wear checked clothes around their waist and usually forms three layers, males gather and start to chant “chak” while moving their arms and hands. The sound of the Gamelan can also be heard to help synchronized the chants and gain tempo as time passes. At the peak of the speed of the chant, the chant is cut and deafening silence is followed.  The dance was a movement of circular waves that are synchronized, as if it was an eye of the hurricane where the female dancers being at the center in a swirl of hands and arms.

Bali has many essential cultural points and “Tari Kecak” is one of them, the mysterious rhythmic dance  with the correlation to the Gods of Hinduism has not lost its touch for decades. It has continued to mesmerize all who see the performance, and it will continue to do so for decades to come.

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Source: www.kompas.com