Of all the dances popular in the culturally-rich Indonesian island of Bali today, the Kecak (pronounced ‘ketjac’) dance is perhaps the most dramatic. Taken from the Hindu epic Ramayana, the dance tells the story of Prince Rama and his rescue of Princess Sita. Unlike in other dances, there is no gamelan orchestra — the traditional ensemble music of percussive instruments. Instead, a troupe of more than 200 bare-chested men, clad in traditional black and white checkered gingham (considered to be a sacred fabric), clap and swerve to the chorus — making a wondrous cacophony of synchronised ‘cak-acak-acak’ clicking sounds while shrugging their bodies and waving their hands — rendering a spectacular sounding backdrop to a hypnotic performance. There is symbolic relevance in the checkered gingham the performers wear: it symbolises the good (white) and the bad (black) spirits that are believed to be working as one in every individual.
Theatrical performance
In the monkey chant, performers percussively drum up the scene using murmurs or chants to depict a battle scene or emotional uproar from the epic. The original Ramayana is a much longer story; Kecak picks just a few specific episodes from this sprawling epic to serve as highlights. The epic is condensed into two hours combining dance and theatrical performance largely without any dialogue, except for short intermissions of interactive comic relief. The most popular scene is that of the monkey flock, led by their leader Hanuman, who helps Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana and reunites him with his abducted wife Sita. The men who play the monkeys are seated in tight concentric circles around a small central space, which is reserved for the chief protagonists who perform the scenes from the epic.
Each character has its own set of distinct gestures. Rama’s and Sita’s are gentle and slow while Ravana is maliciously boisterous and Hanuman is playful yet powerful. It’s clear that Hanuman is the action hero of this story; his costume shows off the physique of the dancer the most. When Hanuman interacts with the crowd, it is a shock to find yourself being addressed by such an epic character. Entertainment value aside, this is a reminder of the duality of this character: Hanuman is strong yet full of wicked humour; a loyal and reliable friend to Rama but at his core an unpredictable monkey.
The men who create the backdrop of the epic narrative are impressive of their own accord: with their postures and outstretched hands, they take on the open stage like a tree full of sudden branches. The chantings change in pitch and tone to simulate the noises of forests. They sway their arms and mimic the calls of the waves to signify the ocean, and even rise up later to represent an army of monkeys. This high-energy dance-drama is very engaging and impossible to experience through photographs alone.
The story follows Rama and his beloved bride Sita as they are walk through a forest. Ravana, the demon king of Lanka, has his eyes set on Sita. He uses magical powers to attract Sita’s attention to a golden deer and Sita, enchanted by the deer, requests this magnificent animal as her pet. Rama, unable to turn down his beloved’s request, leaves her with Laxmana, his brother, who is supposed to guard her but also soon disappears from the scene, leaving Sita alone at home.
After this, Ravana makes his grand entrance — the most memorable entry out of all the characters. One of the Kecak dancers lets out a roar, trailing it off with sinister laughter. Soon after, an imposing red figure steps out of the gates — a human barrier made by the clapping men. The entrance is highly dramatic and can easily transfix a viewer who would otherwise be wanting to document it digitally. Ravana’s moves and steps are heavy and forceful, and his wide-stretched arms give the impression of a villain.
Next comes the star of the show: Hanuman, the crowd’s favourite and the mightiest warrior amongst the monkey clan. The Balinese Kecak separates itself from the original Ramayana epic by placing Hanuman as the main star in the narrative. He makes his entrance like a comedian, in complete monkey jest, the same way an Uluwatu monkey would if he fancied your hat or camera. There is no special music nor cue to announce Hanuman’s entry. His presence is made known with loud dramatic sighs and gasps that rise from clapping men as well as the audience. He appears from nowhere, climbs over the stadium seats and hops around before charging towards the stage in complete fanfare. He is a symbol of loyalty and steadfastness, here to assist Rama in rescuing Sita.
Disputed origins
Kecak’s modern form is touted to have originated in the Gianyar village of Bedulu in the 1930s as a result of the intrigue and interest of Walter Spies, a German expatriate artist and historian. His intention was to create a dance that was both authentic to Balinese traditions and appealing to a Western audience. The idea was to create a performance that could be enjoyed by a small coterie of expatriates like himself, as well as friends and guests to the island.
I Wayan Dibia, an Indonesian artist and scholar specialising in Balinese performing arts, contradicts this popular belief and says that the Balinese were already developing this form before the Western impetus. During the 1920s, a well-known dancer, I Limbak, had incorporated Baris movements —traditional war dances of Bali — into the Kecak’s lead role. This inspired some scholars to suggest that Limbak had devised a spectacle based on the Ramayana which was accompanied by a Kecak chorus rather than gamelan orchestra, as would have been usual.
The name Kecak is derived from the sound ‘cak’ — pronounced ‘chak’ or ‘chok’ — which is chanted in complex interlocking patterns that match the rhythmic patterns played on the gamelan. The dance-drama became popular among visiting tourists after it was first recorded in Bali by David Lewiston, a London-born collector of the world’s traditional music, and released in 1969 by Nonesuch Records.
Some believe that Kecak has its roots in sanghyang, an ancient trance-inducing exorcism dance performed as a part of traditional Balinese rituals. “While the Kecak is a creation of this century, it has descended from something much more ancient — the trance dance, the dance of exorcism called Sanghyang,” said Lewiston. “Its ancestry is clear. Ostensibly, the Kecak is a reenactment of the battle described in the Ramayana epic... But as perceptive observers have noted, the Kecak is primarily a dance of exorcism. Its connection with the Sanghyang remains unbroken.”
Sanghyang is based on the idea that a supernatural force enters the body of an entranced performer. The force, identified as hyang, is an unseen spiritual entity that has supernatural power in ancient Indonesian mythology. This spirit can be either divine or ancestral. Locals believe that the Sanghyang dances are sacred dances that should be performed only at Hindu Balinese religious events and strictly on the premises of temples, never merely to entertain tourists.
In the book Dance and Drama in Bali, authors Walter Spies and Beryl de Zoete, write: “Most of the movements are exorcistic in origin and contribute together to produce a tremendous unity of mood… to drive out evil as by an incantation. The cries, the crowding, lifted hands, the devouring of single figures, the broken lines of melody bewildering to bhutas [demons] who can only move straight ahead, all enhance the exorcistic effect.”
After the Kecak dance, one of the central protagonists, typically an older man, usually performs a Sanghyang Jaran dance. Riding a wooden horse, the man charges through a pile of burning coconut shells. Flames kick up as he charges through the embers and he continues in his trance-like state until he is dragged away.
The monkey dance Kecak, beyond its disputed origin, stands as a vibrant and evolved journey of an ancient epic-based art form, truly Balinese but with an international appeal.
Archana R.D. aka B’lu is an artist-journalist based in the UAE who writes on global art and culture.
A treat for tourists
In its pure form, the Kecak dance is a religious ceremony performed for several hours on successive nights over three to four months. It is a purification process in Balinese tradition to exorcise evil during times of peril and pestilence.
While audiences and photography are not welcome during religious performances of Kecak, a version called ‘tourist Kecak’ is catching up with the increased support of local event organisers and artist communities who are interested in staging the show for a fee. It is an abbreviated version of the original dance, performed for entertainment. This improvised version of the Kecak dance is almost never watched by the Balinese in their villages.
Nowadays, the dance is a daily feature at many temple grounds in Ubud and Uluwatu. The one performed by the Taman Kaja Community, a small community composed of 140 families at the Jalan Raya in Ubud, is one of the most famous. Outside Ubud, the most popular one in Bali is staged inside the campus of Uluwatu temple. Kecak dance here is always performed just before sunset, at around 6pm.
