Trance Ritual Kecak Fire Dance - Bali

     Trance Ritual Kecak fire dance - bali

Kecak Dance is one of the Balinese Hindu artistic masterpieces in the form of dance and music drama 1930’s Bali – Indonesia performs epic short Ramayana saga. Balinese practice the concept of "Tri Hita Karana" (three reasons of prosperity - Humans, Nature & Spirit world). Kecak is said to be originated from a Balinese ancient ritual known as Sanghyang, termed as a form of exorcism in which dancers fall into a trance. As I have mentioned in my earlier blog My Bali Experience about Ulluwatu Temple, after completing the temple tour above the cliff we were exhausted like completely drain. The moment we reached down, we  saw our travel guide was standing in a long queue buying tickets for the fire dance show which was included in our package, well I had no idea about this and honestly was not interested  exhausted after this tiring climb and walking towards the temple that whole lot of action. The only thing I was expecting is a good spa and a meal to end my day.

He insisted to watch this, the good thing was that somehow he arranged the tickets very quickly; looking after all his efforts I was like fine let’s do this. We sat almost an hour, waiting for the show to start desperately so that we can leave from there, but It took almost an hour to start the show, I was very annoyed till then also thirsty no shops nothing was available. Wondering when this will end and I will move from here.

Finally, they started the show after performing some puja (Worship). I had no idea what they are supposed to perform, and what this show is all about. Once they started their performance It took me some time to realize that this is an ancient epic Ramayana I was surprised how come Ramayana here, this grabbed my attention I was more curious to watch this now. The drama held in the open air with sunset view, above the cliff facing Indian Ocean and open-air theater, thing appears to be perfect now. What makes this drama unique was there was no artificial backdrop or musical instruments. It was purely hand and body gestures, about 60 men chanting in the chorus, Cak! Cak! Cak! Cak! Cak!  Representing the army of monkeys continuously intoning to create a dramatic sound against which the action of the play is enacted.  I was thrilled and enlivened, wondering what’s next here to blow the cobwebs away.

The moment professional dancers appeared I was amazed by their beauty. Dancers were so appealing, traditional gear, eye makeup, hand and body gestures, dance-drama at its core. As the performance started, dancers playing Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Ravana, Hanuman, Sugriva and, other related characters. The drama narrates the chapter of Rama to be exiled for fourteen years by his father King Dashratha because of an evil trick by his stepmother Kaikeyi. Rama prepares to leave accompanied by his wife Sita and loyal younger brother Lakshmana. Yes Surpnakha part was not shown here they directly made Ravana set foot in, Ravana decides to abduct Sita using trickery and magic. He manages to lure Rama and Lakshmana away from Sita and seize her. The epic battle follows between the armies. Lanka Dahan – Hanuman sets fire to a castle, orange flames, and amber in the middle of the stage, playing with fire. I got scared though, it’s a dramatic moment was executed impeccably. Hanuman alone entertaining the entire horde by his pranks, expressing mischievous, playfulness, and fun side of his breed. Taking selfies in between the act, snatching belonging’s, playing with hair, full of amusement. Back to the act, Later with the help of monkey king Hanuman, his (vanarsena ) monkey troops and Vibhishan’s help the two brothers manage to rescue Sita and defeat the evil king Ravana once and for all. Finally, the lovers reunite. 

Mystical performance I was so delighted, I never do this but that day I genuinely went down, tussle hard to get one selfie with the dancers and to appreciate them it was my fan moment, the kid in me was curious to meet Hanuman  the white monkey. At the start, I was not convinced to sit for 10 minutes guess what watched the entire play thoroughly without any undivided attention. It was magic without any instrument, not so much of facilities they managed to keep the crowd engaged for almost an hour. People from different places, religions all were well pleased and overjoyed to be there to experience this. All thanks to our travel guide for insisting us to watch this play which I was about to miss, moral of the story listen to the locals sometimes.  WORTH A WATCH!!!!!