The three genres of Balinese dance: what UNESCO lists, and what is sacred

What UNESCO lists

UNESCO inscribed the three genres of traditional dance in Bali in 2015 on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, and the listing is defined by that division: sacred dance, semi-sacred dance, and dance meant for enjoyment by communities at large. UNESCO's page describes male and female dancers in brightly coloured cloth painted with gold floral and faunal motifs, a basic posture with the knees turned outward and the stomach held in, movements in different tempos and directions, and facial expressions in which the eyes show happiness, sadness, anger, fear and love, all accompanied by gamelan. Beyond technique, it says, performers need charisma, humility, discipline and a special spiritual energy that brings the performance to life.[1]

Indonesia's nomination file gives the Balinese names. The element is Tari Tradisi Bali, and its three genres are wali (sacred), bebali (semi-sacred or ceremonial) and balih-balihan, which the file glosses as entertainment. It names the four movement elements UNESCO paraphrases, agem, tandang, tangkis and tangkep, and calls the spiritual energy taksu.[2]

Where in the temple each genre belongs

The nomination file ties each genre to a part of the Balinese temple and to a period of origin.[2]

The file adds that the three categories are applied all over Bali with different dance forms according to desa, kala and patra, place, time and occasion. It says dances performed as part of religious ceremonies continue in every temple in Bali as the traditional calendar requires. The roles it describes are also religious and communal: pedanda, temple priests, bless the dancers, while the kelihan adat, the guardians of custom, and the banjar, the neighbourhood association, organise performances and training.[2]

The nine dances the nomination presents

The file chose nine dances, three per genre, each tied to a district or city.[2]

• Sacred: Rejang from Klungkung, a ceremonial dance by young women; Sanghyang Dedari from Karangasem, a trance dance by two young girls to counter negative supernatural forces; and Baris Upacara from Bangli, danced by a group of men.[2]
• Semi-sacred: Topeng Sidhakarya or Topeng Pajegan from Tabanan, a masked dance to neutralise evil spirits; the Gambuh dance drama from Gianyar, once a royal theatre and now an accompaniment to ceremonies, with 25 to 40 dancers; and the Wayang Wong dance drama from Buleleng, a masked Ramayana drama for 20 to 30 dancers.[2]
• For the community: Legong Kraton, the file's example from Denpasar City, danced by two or three girls and developed from Sanghyang Dedari and Gambuh; Joged Bumbung from Jembrana, a social dance by couples; and Barong Ket "Kuntisraya", the file's example from Badung, a fight between the Barong, standing for goodness, and Rangda, an evil witch.[2]

The file locates the dances across Bali's eight districts and the municipality of Denpasar, and in Balinese communities elsewhere in Indonesia, such as on Lombok and in Lampung. Among the community organisations it lists for the nomination, two dance groups give addresses in Ubud, Gianyar: Sanggar Sadha Budaya at Puri Ubud and Sanggar Nataraja on Jalan Sugriwa.[2] The file names them as participants in the nomination; it says nothing about whether they perform for visitors.

Performances for visitors

The nomination file is direct about tourism. It says that dances, especially of the balih-balihan type, have been developed and adapted for tourist entertainment while keeping their traditional values, and that the ritual purification of dancers and musicians is still performed before performances, even those given as entertainment. It records that most of the people its team interviewed mentioned performances given as entertainment for guests, and that most said these differ from dances performed in ceremonies.[2]

UNESCO's English summary frames the third genre as dance "meant for enjoyment by communities at large", where the file's own word is entertainment and its examples include shows for visitors.[2][1] The two are compatible, but they put the emphasis in different places: UNESCO on the community, the file on what is staged.

Who may watch is addressed too. The file reports that 91 per cent of the 220 people surveyed said there are no restrictions on who may watch traditional Balinese dances, and 75 per cent that there are none on who may perform them. It says guests are allowed to enter temples where dances are performed as part of ceremonies, on condition that they observe customary Balinese dress, at least a sarong and waist cloth, and that these are loaned to guests for the purpose.[2] That is the file's 2015 description of custom, not a current rule for any particular temple; temple dress and conduct as the provincial government states them are covered in Bali temple rules. The file also reports that 15 per cent of respondents said some matters about the dances are not for public knowledge, and that the details of the purification ceremonies before a performance stay under customary restriction.[2]

A name does not settle the genre

XTOUR's reading of the file is that the name of a dance is not enough to tell which genre a given performance belongs to. The file lists Pendet Upacara and Baris Upacara among the sacred dances, yet it also says Pendet for girls and Baris for boys are normally the first dances taught to beginners. It traces Legong Kraton, a dance for the community, back to the sacred Sanghyang Dedari and the semi-sacred Gambuh.[2] What decides the genre in the file's account is the setting and purpose: where in the temple it is danced and whether it is part of a ceremony.

How it is passed on

UNESCO says dances are mainly transmitted informally to children from an early age, within groups, starting with basic movements and positions and moving on to more intricate dances until the sequence is memorised.[1] The nomination file describes the method: a teacher dances in front and the pupils, who may be as young as four or five, follow from behind in time with the music, which in training may be recorded but in real performances is almost always a live gamelan. It names traditional groups (sekaa), organisations (sanggar), schools and arts universities such as the Indonesian Institute of the Arts (ISI) Denpasar, and says the Bali Arts Festival, a month-long festival, has been held every year since 1979.[2] That last statement dates from the 2015 file; XTOUR has not read a current festival programme.

What XTOUR does not know

XTOUR has not read a Bali provincial regulation on sacred dance, and does not state any rule about where sacred dances may or may not be performed beyond what the nomination file describes. It holds no schedules, prices or booking terms for any dance performance, and it cannot say whether a particular show is a ceremonial dance or a staged one. UNESCO's page lists the subak cultural landscape as a related World Heritage site; that inscription is explained in Bali's subak landscape.[1] The gamelan that accompanies the dances has its own explainer, gamelan, and Indonesia's other entries are set out in Indonesia's intangible heritage.