Tropical Heat Tour: Bali Part 16
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
I took off another overcast afternoon to get some work done, then Elena and I booked a shuttle van to Lovina, a seaside town on the North coast of Bali. Just before dark, I walked around the inner courtyard of Ubud Palace, which I’ve never seen open before, to shoot some photos, then headed back over to the Bale Banjar Ubud Kelod for a Legong and Barong show by Sanggar Suwara Guni Kanti from Abangan village. Like last time, I arrived an hour early to grab a seat up front, and once again, the two center front chairs were reserved for French tourists. What are the odds I would see this happen twice in the same spot? At least this time, the people in question, a young couple, stayed quiet most of the time.
The opener was the always adorable and entrancing Pendet welcome dance, followed by the Legong Lasem, an intricate yet graceful dance that tells the tale of a tragic royal love triangle, originally performed in royal courts. Third up was an interesting interactive version of Topeng Tua, the old man mask dance, in which he hobbled around a bit then pulled a few audience members up on stage and joked around with them and made them strike Balinese dance poses. Then came an alternate, extended version of the Barong dance, called the Barong Waksira. Instead of the usual lion-like creature, this one looked more like a huge, menacing boar that played around with a monkey then battled Rangda and men bearing kris (daggers) in another epic excerpt from the Ramayana.
Roll over photos for captions.
Words and photos ©2012 Arcane Candy.
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