Balinese Dancers at Antonio Blanco Museum

Friday night was reserved for a dinner and a movie. In this case it was Balinese dancers and dinner at the restaurant at the Antonio Blanco museum, Rondji Restaurant, named after Blanco's wife, a famous dance herself. The show itself was in the entrance to the museum due to the downpour of rain we got. It started with about 10 minutes of local music featuring a 10 piece band ranging from percussion drums to a large gong. For the next hour, Balinese dancers performed Balih-balihan, one of three styles of dancing. In this case, this was a style for entertainment purposes only. The other two styles are reserved for temple or Balinese gatherings. Balinese dance is based around the Hindu religion, so many of the movements and costume remind you of Hindu paintings and culture. As well, Balinese dance is very expressive with man

y facial expressions to accompany the movements, so paying attention to the dancers is most important!

After the ladies performed, a male dancer came out in a very ornate costume with a white mask and gloves which mimicked long fingernails. The costume looked very heavy and hot, and we couldn't figure out how the dancer could see through the mask, as the eyes were part of the carving and not just holes for the dancer's eyes.

When we were at the museum earlier in the week, the guide had told us that back in the day (pre-1970's), Balinese women wore large wooden earrings to indicate they were single. Once they were married, they didn't wear the earrings. We noted that in each pair of female dancers, one had earrings and the other didn't. Even that little bit of information about the culture made the performance that much more interesting.

We finished the night with a grand meal from the restaurant. With Laura having the crispy duck and me having a rice dish, the evening finished of in a most excellent way!