After the Majapahit warriors subdued Bali in the 14th century, Javanese mini-principalities and courts soon appeared everywhere, creating that unique blend of court and peasant culture, which is Bali - highly sophisticated, dynamic and lively. The accompanying narrative for dance and drama is to a large extent based on court stories from pre-Majapahit Java. Even the Indian epics, another favorite of the stage, especially the wayang, use Javanese, complete with long quotes from the ancient Javanese Kakawin poetry So Javanese culture, which disappeared from Java following Islamization in the l6th century, still survived in Bali in a "Balinese form", which became classical Balinese culture.

However, colonization brought about the fall of classical Bali. With the rural courts defeated and with new lords of the land, the centre of creativity shifted to village associations, and to the development of tourism. The 30's and 50's were particularly fertile decades; while the old narrative led theater survived, lively solo dances appeared everywhere, accompanied by a new, dynamic kind of music called gong kebyar. This trend continued in the 60's and 70's with the creation of colossal sendratari ballets, representing ancient Indian and Javanese stories adapted to the needs of modern audiences.

Dance & Religion
Balinese dance is inseparable from religion. A small offering of food and flowers must precede even dances for tourists. Before performing, many dancers pray at their family shrines, appealing for holy "taksu" (inspiration) from the gods.
In this rural tradition, the people say that peace and harmony depend on protection by the gods and ancestors. Dance in this context may fulfill a number of specific functions:

1. As a channel for visiting gods or demonic gods, the dancers acting as a sort of living repository. These trance dances include the Sang Hyang Dedari, with little girls in trance, and the Sang Hyang Jaran, a fire dance;
2. As a welcome for visiting gods, such as the pendet, rejang and sutri dances;
3. As entertainment for visiting gods, such as the topeng and the wayang.
   

In some of these dances, the role of dancing is so important that it is actually the key to any meaning to be found in the ritual. In wayang performances, the puppeteer is often seen as the "priest" sanctifying the holy water.

As well as their use in religious ceremonies, dance and drama also have a strong religious content. It is often said that drama is the preferred medium through which the Balinese cultural tradition is transmitted. The episodes performed are usually related to the rites taking place; during a wedding one performs a wedding story; at a death ritual there is a visit to "hell" by the heroes. Clowns (penasar) comment in Balinese, peppering their jokes with religious and moral comments on stories whose narratives use Kawi (Old-Javanese).

The typical posture in Balinese dance has the legs half bent, the torso shifted to one side with the elbow heightened and then lowered in a gesture that displays the suppleness of the hands and fingers. The torso is shifted in symmetry with the arms. If the arms are to the right, the shifting is to the left, and vice-versa.
Apart from their costumes, male and female roles can be identified mostly by the accentuation of these movements. The women's legs are bent and huddled together, the feet open, so as to reveal a sensual arching of the back. The men's legs are arched and their shoulders pulled up, with more marked gestures, giving the impression of power.
Dance movements follow on from each other in a continuum of gestures with no break and no jumping (except for a few demonic or animal characters).
Each basic posture (agem), such as the opening of the curtain or the holding of the cloth, evolves into another agem through a succession of secondary gestures or tandang. The progression from one series to the other, and the change from right to left and vice-versa, is marked by a short jerky emphasis called the angsel. The expression is completed by mimicry of the face: the tangkep. Even the eyes dance, as can be seen in the baris and trunajaya dances.

The Dances of Bali

Tambulilingan or bumblebees Dance.
The Balinese like a blend of seriousness and slapstick and their dances show this. Basically the dances are simply straight forward ripping yarns – like vaudeville shows where you cheer on the goodies and cringe back from the stage when the baddies appear. Some dances have a comic element with clowns who counter balance the staid, noble characters. The clowns often have to put across the story to the audience, since the noble characters may use the classical Javanese kawi language while the clowns (usually servants of the noble characters) converse in everyday Balinese. [Details]

Kecak Dance
"Cak-cak-cak." The obsessive sound of a choir from beyond the dust of ages suddenly rises between the lofty trees. Darkness looms over the stage.
Hundreds of bare-breasted men sit in a circle around the flickering light of an oil lamp chandelier. "Cak-Cak". They start dancing to the rhythmic sound of their own voices, their hands raised to the sky and bodies shaking in unison. This is the unique Kecak, perhaps the most popular of all Balinese dances. [Details]

Barong and Kris Dance
Barong and Kris dance like the kecak dance the Barong and Kris dance is a battle between good and evil spirit. Barong can take various forms but in this dance he takes the form of the dance Barong Keket, the most holy of the Barongs. The Barong Keket is a strange creature, half shaggy dog, half lion and is played by two men in much the same way as a circus clown-horse. His opponent is the witch Rangda. The barong personifies good and protects the village from the witch Rangda, but he’s also mischievous and fun loving creature. He flounces into the temple courtyard, snaps his jaws at the gamelan, dances around and enjoys the acclaim of his supporters-a group of men with krises. The Rangda makes her appearance, her long tongue lolling, her pendulous breasts wobbling, human entrails draped around her neck, fangs protruding from her mouth and saber-like fingernails clawing the air.[Details]

Legong Dance
Legong this is the most graceful of Balinese dances and to sophisticated Balinese connoisseurs of dancing the one of most interest. A Legong Dance, as a Legong Dancer is always know, is a young girl – often as young as eight or nine years olds and older than her early teens. Such importance is attached to the dance that even in old age a classic dancer will be remembered as a ‘great Legong’ even though her brief period of fame may have been 50 years ago.[Details]

Baris Dance
Baris the warrior dances know as the Baris is a male equivalent of the Legong in which feminist and grace gives way to the energetic, warlike, martial spirit. A solo dance, the Baris dancer has to convey the thoughts and emotions of a warrior preparing for action and them meeting an enemy in battle. The dancer has to show his changing moods not only thought his dancing, but also through facial expression. Chivalry, pride, anger, prowess and finally some regret (well war is hell, even in Bali ) all have to be there. [Details]

Kebyar Dance
Kebyar this is a male solo dance like the Baris Dance, but with greater emphasis on the performer’s individual abilities. Development of the modern kebyar is credited in large part to the famous pre war dance Mario. There are various forms of the dance including the seated Kebyar Duduk where the ‘dance’ is done from the seated position and movements of the hands, arms and torso plus, of course, facial expressions are all important. In the Kebyar Trompong the dancer actually joins the gamelan and plays an instrument called the trompong while still dancing. [Details]

Janger Dance
Janger Both Covarrubias and Hickman in their between-the-wars books on Bali comment on this strange new, almost un-Balinese, dance which suddenly popped up in the 1920s and 1930s. Today it has become part of standard repertoire and no longer looks so unusual. It has similarities to several other dances including the Sanghyang where the relaxed chanting of the women is contrasted with the violent cak-a-cak-a-cak of the men. In the Janger dance, formations of 12 girls and 12 young men do a sitting dance where the gentle swaying and chanting of the girls is contrasted with the violently choreographed movements and loud shouts of the men. [Details]

Topeng Dance
Topeng the word Topeng means ‘pressed against the face’, as with a mask. This is a mask dance where the dancers have to imitate the character their mask indicates they are playing. The Topeng Tua, for example, is a classic solo dance where the mask is that of an old man and requires the performer to dance like a creaky old gentleman. In other dances there may be a small troupe who dances various characters and types. A full collection of Topeng masks may number 30 or 40.[Details]
Pendet Dance
Pendet this is an everyday dance of the temples, a small procedure gone through before making temple offerings which doesn’t require arduous training and practice. You may often see the Pendet dance being danced by women bringing offerings to a temple for festival, but it is also sometimes danced as an introduction and a closing for other dance performances. [Details]

Sanghyang Dances
Sanghyang Dances the Sanghyang trance dancea originally developed as a means of driving out evil spirits from a village. The Sanghyang is a divine spirit which temporarily inhabits an entranced dancer. The Sanghyang Dedari is performed by two young girls who dance a dream-like version of the Legong. The dancers are said to be untrained in the intricate pattern of the dance and, furthermore, the dance in perfect harmony but with their eyes firmly shut. A female choir and a male Kecak choir provide a background chant but when the chant stops the dancers’ slump to the ground in a faint.[Details]

The Gamelan
As in Sumatra and Java, Balinese music is based around the gamelan orchestra. The whole gamelan orchestra is known as a gong – an old fashioned gong gede or a more modern gong kebyar. There are even more ancient forms of gamelan such as the gong selunding, still occasionally played in Bali Aga village like Tenganan. Though the instruments used are much the same, Balinese gamelan is very different from the form you’ll hear in Java. The Yogyakarta style, for example, is the most reserved, fomal and probably the gentlest and most ‘refined’ of gamelan – while Balinese gamelan often sounds like everyone going for it full pelt. Perhaps a more telling point is that Javanese gamelan music is rarely heard except at special performance, Where as in Bali you seem to hear gamelans playing all the time everywhere you go.