Kechak Dance
One of our favorite things (actually I think I say that about almost everything that we did) that we did in Bali was watching two traditional Balinese dances. Both were quite different in character, and we liked them for very different reasons. The first dance that we saw was a very traditional Balinese dance and I loved everything about it.
First of all, I loved all the music that accompanied the dance. There were no instruments for this one. All the noises were made by the men and their voices. The sound was incredible, sitting there inches away from the performers I could feel the sound filling my body.
I also loved the female dancers. They were so perfectly beautiful. At times it was difficult to envision them as actual people, they looked so much like porcelain dolls.
The last part of the dance involved creating a small bonfire with a pile of coconut shells. Once the fire had burned and it was only embers, a man came out with a wooden pony and started dancing about the flames, walking and kicking the embers around the stage. I don’t know how he did it, his feet must have been incredibly hot at times.
More photos over at Flickr and a video or two will be coming to You Tube soon.