Kecak Dance - Things You Must See In Bali
Today I want to share about the Kecak Dance. A lot of people misspell Kecak Dance into “Kicek”, this is caused by the”e” is pronounce as “i” and the “a” is pronounce as “e” in Bahasa Indonesia. Don’t get me wrong, I am not judging you or other people who never visits Bali Indonesia. I am here to tell you that it should be pronounce as “Keh - chak”.
Kecak is the most popular ritual in Bali. It is also known as the Balinese music drama. It was invented in the 1930s and used to be performed by men. There is a famous character called Ramayana Monkey Chant. What makes it special is the amount of performers involves in this awesome show. Approximately 100 of people involves in Kecak dance as a performer. They wear checked cloth around their waist. This way, it will sound “cak”.
It is a story about a battle from Ramayana. Ramayana is story book. It tells us about a monkey-like called Vanara helped Prince Rama to fight the evil King Ravana. It is said to have a relatively close origin with the Sanghyang, an exorcism dance.
In 1930s, there were a German painter and a musician, Walter Spies who interested in this particular ritual. Actually they were living in Bali quite sometimes and finally work together to remake the ritual into a drama. The whole concept including the story and the music was originally taken from the book of Hindu Ramayana. Walter also work together with Wayan Limbak to popularized the dance by travelling throughout the world. This way, Kecak dance gain more popularity throughout the world.
In spite of that story which involves the German painter and the musician related to their influence regarding the Kecak Dance, A performer, scholar, and choreographer, I Wayan Dibia, has his own story of the birth of Kecak Dance. He told that the Balinese have already own their Kecak Dance as a ritual before The German painter and the musician arrived in Bali.
It is important to know the history of this exciting dance. Moreover, you should spend sometimes to see the Kecak dance and feel the exciting atmosphere when the performer rings the “cak” sound. Kecak Dance should be on the your “things you must see in Bali” list of your Bali Vacations plan. As it is really the things you must see in bali.
Kecak dance is performed in various places such as temple. You will find a lot of announce board on your daily walk about the Kecak Dance performance. It is really easy to find the Kecak Dance performance.
