Baksa Kembang Dance - Clasical Dance from South Kalimantan

One of the clasical dance that still live until today in South Kalimantan is Baksa Kembang Dance. It is one of the most precious dance that originally only performed by the princess in front of the King. But now, Baksa Kembang has been performed and being learn by a lot of people in Banjar area.

The Baksa Kembang Dance is a dance to welcoming king's guests, such as kings from other kingdom. But recently, it has been used and performed to welcome Government Official, such as Governor, Minister, or even President.

According to Yurliani Johansyah - the Classical Banjar Dance's expertist - Baksa Kembang Dance has been established more than thousand years. She even recognize this dance has been performed long before the Kingdom of Banjar stand in the 15th century. The main key of this dance is the smoothness of the dancer (Baksa was came from the word of "beksan" which means "smooth" in Banjar's language). Another main key of this dance is the flowers bouquet which become the main property while the dancers performed this dance. The bouquet is the compilation of variant flowers (such as Rose, Jasmine, magnolia, and cananga), and will be presented to the honour guest.

The dance itself tells the story about the princess that playing in the flower park. They pick flowers and make them as a bouquet, then use it as their play-toy. The dancers is wearing a crown called Gajah Gemilang, a silver crown that being decorated using blossom forth. Usually the dancers are in odd-numbers (1, 3, 5, or 7 persons). This dance is accompany with tradisional percussion that played song called Ayakan, Janklong, or Kembang Muni.

This unique dance can be seen in South Kalimantan. So, if you visit there, and have a chance to see this dance, take your time to see it. Because not all the time we have a nopportunity to see this such a beauty dance in South Kalimantan.

Barong - The Sacred Dance from Bali

Another famous dance that you are going to see a lot in Bali is The Barong Dance. The dance is a story telling dance, about the fight between good and evil. Barong itself is the king of the spirits, leader of the hosts of good and the protective spirit for forests and lands. Each region of Bali island has their own barong, and usually modeled after animals, such as Dragon, Tiger, Boar, Serpent, and others. The most popular barong is Lion Barong, that often used for the performing arts. Barong is often portraited with two monkeys.

The Barong Dance tells the story about Rangda, the mother of Erlangga, King of Bali in the tenth century. The myth said that Rangda had practiced black magic, in which made Erlangga's father upset and condemned her. The furious Rangda summoned all evil spirits in the jungles to come after Erlangga. Because of the power of Rangda was too strong, Erlangga lost the fight and almost lost his life. He asked for the help of Barong. With Erlangga's soldiers, Barong confronted Rangda and the fight resumed.

Rangga casted a spell that made Erlangga's soldiers suddenly want to committed suicide by stubbing their own stomach with keris (the traditional blade from Bali). Barong casted a spell that turned his body resistant to the sharp keris. Finally Barong won the fight.

To performed Barong Dance, each dancer has to have ability and power to control themselves. Because usually when they performed the suicide part, some said that there has a ery unexplained strong power that also involved in the dance. If the dancer is not strong enough to hold the power, they might get injured by their own keris.

The mask of barong and Rangda are the sacred items that not easily used. Before the dance started, a priest will held a blessing ritual by sprinkling the masks with holy mountain and asked for safety,


The Barong Dance usually played in Gianyar where Ubud is located.