We had tickets for the CAK or KECAK dance this evening. This is the famous "monkey dance" of Bali which originated from the ancient sacred Sanghyang dance. Scenes from the Ramayana have been added, but the KECAK dance is only performed in Bali. We were excited to see it performed. We have been to classical Greek theater in ancient theaters and loved going to see theater in each country.
The KECAK dance company consists in Ubud of 100 local men as a chorus and several actors portraying the Monkey King Sugriwa, the Demon King Rahawana, the Princess Sita, Meganada (Rahawana's son)and, of course, Prince Rama (the hero).
It is very hard in words to describe the emotion of the music of this dance, which is chanted by up to 100 men (the monkey army) in a "Cak-Ke-Cak" hypnotic rhythm. Here is a UTube site that may give you the idea of the sound: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGXcnWUqV-Y&feature=endscreen&NR=1. The story of the rescue of Rama's wife, Princess Sita comes to Bali from the ancient Indian epic tale, the Ramayana. There are 5 acts to the Cecak dance, showing the kidnapping by Rahwana, her rescue through the aid of the White Monkey King. There is an exciting battle between Sugriwa (the Monkey King) and Meganada, the son of the Demon King. All ends well with Rama's victory and his reuniting with Princess Sita, shown in this photo before the performance.
We were among the very few non-Indonesians at the show. There was a family sitting next to us, with a father, mother, two sons and another man, maybe an uncle. Right away, the boy asked if we could take a photo with him and when we said okay, the whole family began to click away. And so did other people. Everyone wanted a photo of me and Judy. This is the boy next to us, with his family in the background.
The male chorus was about 50 men, and Wayan said that they were farmers and shopkeepers, not professional dancers. They were bare-chested and wearing black and white checkerboard sarongs. They chanted Ke Chak Chak Chak Ke in a hypnotic way, swaying and waving their hands up and sideways in unison. The sound was a sort of click/clack and very strong. There was a leader who shouted out a single word now and then and they would pause, lean back and then start again, maybe in another direction They swayed, stood, sat, lay back on each other like a group of children in a school playground. They carried a child high in their hands as they circled the stage. In their religion, a virgin girl is considered sacred. In fact, Wayan told us that if a girl got pregnant outside of marriage, she was refused entrance to a temple, so she was cut off from the village religious life: quite a harsh punishment! The men sang loudly and beautifully and it was very moving because it was a strong sound and you could see the trance taking over the actors as the moved, sang, chanted and waved their arms. Unlike a Greek chorus, this was not a commentary on the action, it was the religious embodiment of the action.
At the end of the dance, we were driven back to the hotel and had a late dinner. I had a strawberry daiquari and Judy had a tonic. We ate Mie Goreng and Nasi Goreng and got back to our room at 9:15. TIRED!! What a day! Very busy in fact, even though we had time in the van to rest between shops and took a nap. We hadn't caught up on the lack of sleep from the long flight. We took showers and fell asleep. Wayan was coming at 8:30 in the morning to take us on the Temple Tour. This has been a fantastic first day of our Indonesian holiday. Thank you, Asian Trails Tours!
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