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BALINESE DANCE AND RELIGION
Balinese dance is inseparable from religion. A small offering of
food and flowers must precede even dances for tourists.
Before performing, many dancers pray at their family shrines,
appealing for holy "taksu" (inspiration) from the gods.
In this rural tradition, the people say that peace and harmony
depend on protection by the gods and ancestors. Dance in this
context may fulfil a number of specific functions:
- as a channel for visiting gods or demonic gods,
the dancers acting as a sort of living repository.
These trance dances include the Sang Hyang Dedari,
with little girls in trance, and the Sang Hyang
Jaran, a fire dance.
- as a welcome for visiting gods, such as the pendet,
rejang and sutri dances
- as entertainment for visiting gods, such as the
topeng and the wayang.
In some of these dances, the role of dancing is so important
that it is actually the key to any meaning to be found in
the ritual. In wayang performances, the puppeteer is
often seen as the "priest" sanctifying the holy water.
As well as their use in religious ceremonies, dance and
drama also have a strong religious content. It is often
said that drama is the preferred medium through which the
Balinese cultural tradition is transmitted. The episodes
performed are usually related to the rites taking place;
during a wedding one performs a wedding story; at a death
ritual there is a visit to "hell" by the heroes. Clowns
(penasar) comment in Balinese, peppering their jokes with
religious and moral comments on stories whose narratives
use Kawi (Old-Javanese).
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