"HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! HAIR! Show it! Grow it!
Long as I can dance with it, my hair!"
Based on Hindi stories from the Ramayana text, I attended a few dance performances while in Ubud. Every night there was at least 3 performances of either gamelan music and/or dance at several stages throughout Ubud. The first show I attended had a two-manned monster-like puppet/costume with quaking hair and a chomping wooden mouth—The Barong. He was later joined by the Kris—one- manned costumed monsters with even longer dread like hair that shook and spun and quivered and danced. At this point, the story was pointless...I was taken. :)
The following evening, I found myself seated in front of a white curtain, with a fire lit just one foot beyond. In front of the fire, shadow puppets danced out a similar story. These stories are passed on from generation to generation by one puppet master to his kin, year after year, for hundreds and hundreds of years.
Several nights later, I attended another dance/gamelan show at the Ubud Palace. The Legong (dancing women all dolled up in gold regalia), followed by the Ramayana Ballet. “Ballet” meaning theater show. And how amazing it was! Situated in front of a candle-lit temple, I sat not two feet from the stage and the gamelan players. They chimed their music strangely and perfectly in unison, with the complicated 6/8, triplets, 4/4 and 9/6? time signatures as the dancers portrayed the story of Rama, Sita, and the evil king-man Ravana. Hanoman, the great money hero swept in to save the day, along with his tribe of miniature monkeys aged 3-10. So inspirational to see a multi-generational performance of such a sacred story.
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