MOVEMENT AND DANCE

Balance is important in Balinese dance. Normally, the dancer half-bends her legs, shifts her torso to one side, with the elbow raised and lowered in fluid movements to display the suppleness of her hands and fingers. Her torso is shifted in symmetry with the arms. If the arms are to the right, the shifting is to the left, and vice-versa.

Apart from their costumes, male and female roles can be identified mostly by the accentuation of these movements. The women’s leg are bent and huddled together, the feet open, so as to reveal a sensual arching of the back. The men’s legs are arched and their shoulders pulled up, with more marked gestures, giving the impression of power.

Dance movements follow on from each other in a continuum of gestures with no break and no jumping (except for a few demonic or animal characters).

Each basic (agem), such as the opening of the curtain or the holding of the cloth, evolves into another agem trough a succession of secondary gestures or tandang. The progression from one series to the other, and the change from the right to the left and vice-versa, is marked by short jerky emphasis called the angsel. The expression is completed by mimicry of the face ; the tangkep. Event the eyes dance, as can be seen in the Baris and Trunajaya dances.