Barong Sahadewa Dance

“Location In Batubulan – Sukawati. Barong Dance Performances Are Held In The Morning Around 09.30 – 10.30 Am”.

Barong Sahadewa Dance cultural studio was founded and inaugurated on April 1 1972 with the name “BARONG SAHADEWA DANCE”. Has more than 40 years of experience presenting various traditional Balinese dance performances. Regular performances are held on the stage. An open stage concept with a natural background is the hallmark of this studio. However, to maintain conducive performance conditions during the rainy season, indoor stage facilities are also prepared.

Barong Dance Against Rangda

The Balinese Barong Dance is a theatrical traditional Balinese dance. Tells the story of the battle between White Magic and Black Magic from the Mahabharata Story. The story generally tells us when the mystical animal “Barong” fights “Rangda”. Rangda studied black magic and committed atrocities in the world. The Barong Dance Performance is one of the interesting tourist attractions on the Island of the Gods. Tourists who are interested in the cultural side of Bali always enjoy the shows. But with a detailed explanation of the dance, of course

Symbolism and Stories of Traditional Barong Dance Performances in Bali
Enjoy the beauty of the performing arts in the traditional Balinese Barong dance performance, a narrative spectacle that depicts the eternal battle between good (symbolized by the Barong) and evil (represented by the Rangda). This dance drama features beautiful costumes, skilled dancers, and resounding gamelan music.

The main character of the Balinese Barong dance

To follow the storyline of the dance, let’s look at a little information about each of the main characters in the Balinese Barong dance who will appear throughout the story.

“Barong” is a mystical four-legged animal shaped like a lion that lives in the forest and is known to have great White Magic powers.

“Sahadewa” is the youngest Pandawa Brother who is the main character who fights evil and will later become Barong himself to fight the strongest Rangda.

“Monkey” is Barong’s best friend and also lives in the forest. They always have fun together but both of them also don’t like bad things happening in the world.

“Kunti” is the queen and mother of the Sahadewa and Pandava brothers too. He promised to sacrifice Sahadewa to Rangda so that Rangda would stop causing more chaos in the world.

What is meant by “Deputy Ministers and their Subordinates” are people who serve Kunti and are tasked with providing advice on whatever actions Kunti must take.

“2 Young Women” are also Kunti’s subordinates who appear at the beginning of the story.

“Lord Shiva” is the husband of Goddess Durga. He is the God who controls the death of humans and other living creatures. He appears to bless Sahadeva with power and death to fight the demon Rangda.

The Bad Character of the Balinese Barong Dance

The following are the bad characteristics of the Balinese Barong dance:

“Rangda” is an evil woman who gains the power to control evil by praying. And he became a subordinate of Goddess Durga who rules hell. He uses the powers he gains to commit Dark Arts and cruelty in the world.

“Kalika” is Rangda’s main subordinate who will become the next Rangda. Rangda Kalika was even more evil and powerful than the first Rangda himself.

“Wild Boar” is the first and lowest evil form of Kalika.

“Big Bird” is Kalika’s second transformation with the power of intermediate black magic.

“Rangda Kalika” is the last and strongest evil Rangda.

There are also several crimes that Rangda is subordinate to.

Balinese Barong Dance Storyline

The storyline of the Balinese Barong Dance begins with the appearance of 2 young women. They were Kunti’s men. They heard about their queen’s promise to sacrifice Sahadewa to Rangda. Disagreeing with the plan, they will leave to meet Deputy Minister Kunti. They wanted to discuss how they would advise their queen to break her promise to Rangda. Without anyone realizing it, the criminals and Rangda’s subordinates followed them.

At the same time, Barong and Monkey were in the forest and having fun as usual. Then they realized that there were several bad men following the two women’s journey. The Barong and Monkey scared them so the women were not disturbed and continued their journey to meet the Deputy Minister.

Rangda’s subordinates reported the situation to Rangda that the mothers and the Deputy Minister wanted to encourage Kunti to cancel her promise. Rangda ordered the devil to control the minds of Kunti and her subordinates when they held a meeting. Rangda gave special powers to the evil one so that the evil one could change the minds of Kunti and her men.

At Kunti Palace

The two women had discussed the matter with the Deputy Minister and all agreed to encourage Kunti to cancel her promise. Together, they meet Kunti and begin to encourage her. During their meeting, evil sneaks up behind them without anyone realizing it. Then evil uses its power to control all the people. Suddenly everyone became very angry with Sahadeva without any reason. Their emotions changed everything and they were willing to sacrifice Sahadeva for Rangda.

Kunti summoned Sahadewa, then ordered her subordinates to tie Sahadewa in front of Rangda Palace. They left Sahadewa there accompanied only by a soldier. Before darkness dawned, Lord Shiva appeared. Lord Shiva blessed Sahadeva with death and strength to fight Rangda. He blessed Sahadewa because he did not like how Rangda used his power to commit atrocities in the world. Moreover, Rangda’s supernatural powers come from Goddess Durga, the wife of Lord Shiva himself.

Nightfall

When it was getting dark, Rangda emerged from her palace. Rangda is only active when she is with her subordinates, all of whom are evil. Rangda immediately wanted to kill Sahadewa as soon as she saw Sahadewa. He wanted to kill him as a sacrifice to increase his strength. Many times he tried to kill Sahadewa but all his efforts did not hurt Sahadewa in the slightest. Sahadewa, who had just realized that he had been blessed by Lord Shiva, fought back and Rangda’s strength was useless against him. Then Rangda apologized and Sahadeva gave him an apology. Because he saw that Rangda really wanted to change, he blessed her with a peaceful death to give her another chance to be better in the next life.

Seeing what happened to Rangda, Kalika, who was Rangda’s main subordinate, asked Sahadewa for the same thing. However, Sahadewa refused because he felt that Kalika’s heart was truly evil, even more than Rangda herself. Sahadewa’s refusal made Kalika angry and now he attacked Sahadewa. The fight between them was easily controlled by Sahadewa then Kalika changed his form into several animals. The first transformation, he becomes a wild boar. This transformation is the lowest form of evil and only requires the ordinary warrior Sahadeva to bring it down. Kalika changed her form back to a large bird with a higher level of strength. Sahadeva had to fight him alone but his human form alone was enough to win against him.

Sahadewa Against Kalika

Finally, Kalika reached the highest level of evil transformation, namely Rangda. Rangda Kalika’s form is very strong. Sahadewa in his human form could no longer fight him and lost the fight. To fight Kalika’s evil form, Sahadeva had to change his form too. He changed his form to Barong. In this form he can match Kalika’s strength in the form of Rangda. Their fight was evenly matched in terms of strength and Barong, assisted by several soldiers, succeeded in defeating Kalika. The soldiers did not have magic powers so they were easily defeated. With his supernatural powers, Barong revived his soldiers.

After they were resurrected, Kalika gave a magic spell that could control the minds of the soldiers. Kalika ordered the soldiers to commit suicide by stabbing themselves in the chest with his own “Keris”. The keris is a traditional Balinese sword with a curved shape and medium size. Seeing danger approaching his soldier, Barong cast another spell to protect the soldier’s body. The scene of soldiers committing suicide is also shown in the last scene of the show and this is the most exciting scene in the entire show. The dancer who plays the role of soldier commits suicide before our eyes and the Keris they use is a real Keris too.

The Wisdom Behind the Balinese Barong Dance

The Balinese Barong Dance is a spiritual dance. So during the show there are several offerings. This is to invite the spirit of Barong and Rangda to come to the stage. The last round also proves that their spirit appears during the performance and makes the final scene of the dance very dangerous, but we believe that the Barong spirit protects the bodies of the dancers who act as soldiers.

Until the final scene of the Balinese Barong Dance storyline, it is not stated who the winner of the battle is. That is what tells us about the wisdom of “Rwa Bhineda”. The lesson is that good always comes with bad. The battle between the spirits of Barong and Rangda was fierce. The lesson is that it teaches us to be very careful in this life because there are always good and bad sides around us, even within ourselves. It depends on whether we will be good or bad people.

Ticket Prices for Barong Dance

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