Dance Troupe Seeks to Revive and Reintroduce Sacred Bali Performance Art

Jakarta Globe, Maya Martini, Dec 14, 2014

Legong dancers during the 20th anniversary celebration of Bengkel Tari
Ayu Bulan. (JG Photo/Maya Martini)

On the last day of November this year, a group of dancers brought a taste of Bali to the bustling capital of Jakarta. Soothing sounds of traditional instruments gamelan filled the room, and candles and flowers gave life to the otherwise gloomy and grey day. It was a performance of Bali’s traditional Legong dance at the Goethe Institute Menteng in Central Jakarta, brought by a group of dancers hoping to revive a dance long forgotten — one that has long survived quietly within the confines of obscurity.

The dance was part of the 20th anniversary celebration of Bengkel Tari Ayu Bulan, a community dedicated to Legong dancers and lovers.

“Legong is a poetry that is rooted from an ancient dance called Gambuh and the sacred trance dance called Sanghyang,” said Bulantrisna Djelantik, also known as Biyan Bulan, founder of Tari Ayu Bulan Bengkel and Studio. Biyan Bulan herself is a distinguished maestro of the Legong dance who has also introduced the dance beyond Indonesia with the help of dancers from Bengkel Tari Ayu Bulan.

“Now, it has become one of the classical Balinese dances with a complex vocabulary of motions full of vibration, alternately bending and breaking, gentle and strong and bound in a frame of rules.” she said.

“Kemilau Legong” consisted of four types of dances, three of which fall under the “non-dramatic” category. The first is a dance named Legong Kupu-kupu Carum, which symbolizes the short and meaningful life of a butterfly. The second, named Legong Kuntir, depicts a scene from the epic Ramayana story, while the third, Legong Kuntul, depicts a flock of a common, slender and white bird called Kuntul. The final dance, which falls under the “dramatic dance” and was choreographed by Biyan Bulan herself, is called Legong Smaradahana – a story of chaos in heaven when evil spirits tormented heavenly being.

“I have seen numerous traditional Bali dances but this one was different” said Hans, a guest at the event said. “The spirit and passion of the dancers could be felt throughout the room, and the atmosphere made me feel like I was transported to Bali.”

Despite having originated in Bali centuries ago, the dance remains unpopular and is rarely seen on stage because its performance is commonly limited to sacred rituals. The dance, which is said to have up to 22 varieties, currently has only 12 preserved varieties.

“The public mainly knows ‘Keraton,’ one variety of the legong dance,” head of the event’s organizing committee Putri Minangsari said. “Bengkel Tari Ayu Bulan aims to reintroduce the uniqueness of Legong to the pulbic, especially to the younger generations to keep it from perishing.”

Bengkel Tari Ayu Bulan today has 22 active Legong dance performers who come from a variety of professions and ethnic groups in Indonesia, all of whom dance with one aim: to preserve the traditional dance and to add color to the local performing arts culture in the process.