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Bali is renowned for
its diverse and
sophisticated art
forms, such as
painting, sculpture,
woodcarving,
handcrafts, and
performing arts.
Balinese percussion
orchestra music,
known as gamelan,
is highly developed
and varied. Balinese
performing arts
often portray
stories from Hindu
epics such as the
Ramayana but with
heavy Balinese
influence. Famous
Balinese dances
include pendet,
legong,
baris, topeng, barong, gong keybar, and kecak
(the monkey dance).
Bali boasts one of
the most diverse and
innovative
performing arts
cultures in the
world, with paid
performances at
thousands of temple
festivals, private
ceremonies, or
public shows.
The
Hindu New Year,
Nyepi, is
celebrated in the
spring by a day of
silence. On this day
everyone stays at
home and tourists
are encouraged to
remain in their
hotels. But the day
before that large,
colourful sculptures
of ogoh-ogoh
monsters are paraded
and finally burned
in the evening to
drive away evil
spirits. Other
festivals throughout
the year are
specified by the
Balinese
pawukon calendrical system.
Celebrations are held for many occasions such as a
tooth-filing (coming-of-age ritual), cremation or odalan (temple
festival). One of the most important concepts that Balinese ceremonies have
in common is that of désa kala patra, which refers to how ritual
performances must be appropriate in both the specific and general social
context.
Many of the ceremonial art forms such as wayang kulit and topeng
are highly improvisatory, providing flexibility for the performer to adapt
the performance to the current situation. Many celebrations call
for a loud, boisterous atmosphere with lots of activity and the resulting
aesthetic, ramé, is distinctively Balinese. Oftentimes two or more
gamelan ensembles will be performing well within earshot, and sometimes
compete with each other in order to be heard. Likewise, the audience members
talk amongst themselves, get up and walk around, or even cheer on the
performance, which adds to the many layers of activity and the liveliness
typical of ramé.
Kaja and kelod are the Balinese equivalents of
North and South, which refer to ones orientation between the island’s
largest mountain Gunung Agung (kaja), and the sea (kelod). In
addition to spatial orientation, kaja and kelod have the
connotation of good and evil; gods and ancestors are believed to live on the
mountain whereas demons live in the sea. Buildings such as temples and
residential homes are spatially oriented by having the most sacred spaces
closest to the mountain and the unclean places nearest to the sea.
 Most temples have an inner courtyard and an outer courtyard
which are arranged with the inner courtyard furthest kaja. These
spaces serve as performance venues since most Balinese rituals are
accompanied by any combination of music, dance and drama. The performances
that take place in the inner courtyard are classified as wali, the
most sacred rituals which are offerings exclusively for the gods, while the
outer courtyard is where bebali ceremonies are held, which are
intended for gods and people. Lastly, performances meant solely for the
entertainment of humans take place outside the walls of the temple and are
called bali-balihan. This three-tiered system of classification was
standardized in 1971 by a committee of Balinese officials and artists in
order to better protect the sanctity of the oldest and most sacred Balinese
rituals from being performed for a paying audience.
Tourism, Bali’s chief industry, has provided the island with
a foreign audience that is eager to pay for entertainment, thus creating new
performance opportunities and more demand for performers. The impact of
tourism is controversial since before it became integrated into the economy,
the Balinese performing arts did not exist as a capitalist venture, and were
not performed for entertainment outside of their respective ritual context.
Since the 1930’s sacred rituals such as the barong dance have been
performed both in their original contexts, as well as exclusively for paying
tourists. This has led to new versions of many of these performances which
have developed according to the preferences of foreign audiences; some
villages have a barong mask specifically for non-ritual performances
as well as an older mask which is only used for sacred performances.
The Balinese eat with their right hand, as the left is
impure, a common belief throughout Indonesia. The Balinese do not hand or
receive things with their left hand and would not wave at anyone with their
left hand.
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