INDONESIA 
Bali​
​I first visited Indonesia in the 2000's and returned in 2015-16 and revisited Java.

Balinese Dance

Mixing cultural images and sounds has always fascinated me and in this case I cut Balinese dance dance moves to a song by Joy Enriquez called How Can I Not Love You from the movie Anna and the King.  
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The most famous puppets of Indonesia are the carved leather wayang kulit puppets.*
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The leaf-shaped kayon representing the 'tree' or 'mountain of life' is also made of leather and is used to end scenes during a performance.*

The wayang characters are often based on figures from the Mahabharata and Ramayana.*

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The kasar (coarse) characters are often muscular and hairy, with upturned heads.*
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Gold and yellow are reserved for the highest nobles and white symbolises virtue.*
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Even facial expressions are carefully choreographed to convey the character of the dance.*

Some dances have a comic element, with clowns who counterbalance the staid, noble characters.*
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One of the best-known dances of Bali is the Kecak.*

Music and dance and drama are closely related in Bali.*
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This (Legong) is the most graceful of Balinese dances and, to connoisseurs of Balinese dancing, the one of most interest.*

Ubud Palace and Puri Saren Agung share space in the heart of Ubud.  The local royal family still lives here and you can wander around most of the large compound exploring the many traditional and not excessively ornate buildings.*

​Across its many islands, Indonesia consists of approximately 300 ethnic groups, each with cultural identities developed over centuries, influenced by Indian, Arabic, Chinese, and European sources. Traditional Javanese and Balinese dances, for example, contain aspects of Hindu culture and mythology, as do wayang kulit, the shadow puppet performances.

These intricate lace figures are cut from buffalo hide with a sharp, chisel-like stylus, and then painted.*

Wayang golek are three-dimensional wooden puppets found in Central and West Java.*
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In the Mahabharata, the Kauravas are essentially the forces of greed and evil, while the Pandavas represent refinement and enlightenment.*
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Colour is also of great significance.  Red often indicates aggressiveness, greed or anger.*

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Balinese dance tends to be precise, shifting and jerky, like the accompanying gamelan music, which has abrupt shifts of tempo and dramatic changes between silence and crashing noise.*
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The dances are blend of seriousness and slapstick.*
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The clowns often have to convey the story of the audience, since the noble characters may use the classical Javanese Kawi language, while the clowns converse to Balinese.*

It is unusual because it does not have a gamelan accompaniment.*

​Its opponent is the rangda (witch).*
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There are various forms of the Legong but the Legong Kraton (Legong of the Palace) is the one most often performed.*

Each evening, kite flying was popular in Ubud's football field.

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​Indonesia has a rich heritage of traditional dance styles. Balinese dance tends to be precise, shifting and jerky, like the accompanying gamelan music, which has abrupt shifts of tempo and dramatic changes between silence and crashing noise. There's virtually no physical contact in Balinese dancing each dancer moves independently, but every movement of wrist, hand and finger is important. ​
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They are produced in Bali and Java, particularly in Central Java.*
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The wayang klitik puppets are the rarer flat wooden puppets of East Java.*
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At a wayang or dance performance the halus (refined) characters tend to be smaller and more elegant in proportion; their legs are slender, and their heads are tilted downwards, representing humility.*

Black and blue indicate calm, spiritual awareness and maturity.  Gold and yellow are reserved for the highest nobles and white symbolises virtue.*
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​There's virtually no physical contact in Balinese dancing -- each dancer moves independently, but every movement of wrist, hand and finger is important.*

Basically, they are straight-forward ripping yarns, where you cheer the goodies and boo the baddies.*

Dances are a regular part of almost every temple festival, and Bali has no shortage of these.*
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The dance relates how a king takes a maiden, Rangkesari, captive.*

The Barong represents good and protects the village from the rangda, but is also a mischievous creature.*

Each morning locals come to pray near Pasar Seni in Ubud.
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Even facial expressions are carefully choreographed to convey the character of the dance. Legong is the most graceful of Balinese dances. A performance involves just three dancers the two Legongs and their 'attendant' known as the Condong. The Legongs are identically dressed in tightly bound gold brocade. Their faces are elaborately made up, their eyebrows plucked and repainted, and their hair decorated with frangipanis.

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* These captions are from Indonesia -- Lonely Planet's travel guide.