Balinese Dance

One evening, Steven and I saw a traditional Kecak Fire Dance a small villiage just outside of Ubud, where we were told that everyone in the village participated in the once weekly show. According to my Lonely Planet, "The Kicak is one of the best known of all Balinese dances and has a 'choir' of men who provide the "chak-achak' accompaniment, imitating a troupe of monkeys. Kecak dances tell a tale from the Ramayana, one of the great Hindu holdy books, about Prince Rama and his Princess Sita." The dance consisted of a total of six main dancers acting out the story in the middle of a circle of chattering 'monkeys.'

After the end of the story, the stage was cleared and a mound of coconut husks was brought into the center, doused in what we presumed to be some sort of flammable liquid and set ablaze. Thin foot high metal barriers were placed around the stage between the crowd and the rising flames. While the husks burned, a man entered the stage area riding a toy horse. He rode around the fire a few times before going up to it, barefoot, and kicking the coconuts in all directions where skittered across the ground until they slammed into the barriers. Sparks flew in the air in a fascinating light show as he proceeded to sweep his feet into the pile again and kick the burning husks in another direction. When he was through, he 'galloped' around over the burning embers as a group of stage hands ran on stage and swept the smoldering husks back into a pile in the center of the stage. Again the man came at the pile, kicking the husks viciously to all sides of the stage sending up thousands of burning embers in an awe inspiring spectacle. Again came in the sweepers and to our enjoyment the spectacle was repeated numerous times until the embers began to die down and the show came to a close.

After the show, a man came out and thanked us for coming and told us to tell all of our friends, while the last actor, sans horse, sat against a set of steps, posing for pictures with tourists keen to get a closer look at the bottoms of his feet.
(Click the link above for a quick taste of the show)

Kecak dance (Fire dance) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Kecak Fire Dance
Kecak Fire Dance, Bali on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
Kecak Fire Dance