The Story of Barong Dance

Barong Dance is one of the distinctive arts community of Bali, where Barong it self is symbolic of goodness with shape like a lion. in Barong dance it tells the story about battle between Barong and Rangda, Rangda is a symbolic of badness with shape like a giant with a big canine. Both of them is a reflection of human action in daily life with the good and bad behavior, or in Balinese it's call Dharma and Adharma.

Barong is like a doll which being moved by person inside it, Barong is very heavy, this dance usually performed by two big mans that lift and moving the barong from the inside.
The story goes that Rangda, the mother of Erlangga, the King of Bali in the tenth century, was condemned by Erlangga's father because she practiced black magic. After she became a widow, she summoned all the evil spirits in the jungle, the leaks and the demons, to come after Erlangga. A fight occurred, but she and her black magic troops were too strong that Erlangga had to ask for the help of Barong. Barong came with Erlangga's soldiers, and fight ensued. Rangda casted a spell that made Erlangga soldiers all wanted to kill themselves, pointing their poisoned keris into their own stomachs and chests. Barong casted a spell that turned their body resistant to the sharp keris. At the end, Barong won, and Rangda ran away.

Barong is probably the most well known dance. It is also another story telling dance, narrating the fight between good and evil. This dance is the classic example of Balinese way of acting out mythology, resulting in myth and history being blended into one reality.