The Joged Dance And Shadow Puppet Show In Bali

 

The Joged dance
The Joged Bumbung is likely one of the few completely secular dances of Bali, through which the brightly-dressed dancer invites men from the crowd to bounce together with her in a pretence of seduction. The music is made with bumbung (baMboo) instruments. This dance could be very popular with tourists.

The dance begins with an extended opening sequence by the female dancer. Then, lengthy scarf in her hand, she selects a person from the viewers by both pointing with her fan or touching his waist. He (the pengibing) comes on stage to hoots from the audience, and is expected to be as adept at teasing as the ladies dancer. The higher he's, the louder the cheers and roars from the crowd. He might attempt to pinch her, dance hip to hip with her, or even behave like an indignant lover and attempt to hit her.

The Wayang Show (Shadow Puppet Present)
The wayang puppet present is probably essentially the most famous show in Balinese theatre, albeit probably the most tough to understand. Basically an epic narrative, it's the key to Bali's unique world of myths, symbols and religious beliefs.

The puppet grasp, or datang, tells his story by projecting the shadows of the puppets he manipulates behind a white display and a large lamp. He plays several characters at once, shifting from Outdated-Javanese to High-Balinese, singing and hitting a field to mark the rhythm. A very good dalang is a one-man-present, being in turns sensible, humorous and melancholic.

The datang borrows the body of his narrative from the great epics of the Indo-Javanese custom, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, though other stories might generally be used. He then creates his personal episodes, often regarding a hero's quest for a magical weapon, heavenly secret or partner. The hero, accompanied by buffoons, succeeds finally after tortuous adventures in the wilderness and fights with evil giants. The 2 units of puppets - the heroes on the correct, villains on the left - symbolise the eternal struggle between good and evil. But for the audience, the datang's potential to poke fun at everyone by way of the mouths of the buffoons is not any much less vital than the narrative.