Kecek Fire Dance

Almost 30 years ago, a student of mine gave me a book about her homeland - Bali - and wrote an inscription inviting me to visit some day. One of the centerpieces in that book was a two-page image of a kecek fire dance. The picture is an accurate portrayal of the dance, but it can't do the dance justice. On the last evening of our bike ride, we gathered on the hotel's back lawn overlooked the Indian Ocean to experience a presentation of kecek. About 50 men and boys assembled into three concentric circles around a central fire. There were no instruments. The men and boys chanted for the next hour or so while actors in costumes reenacted a scene from the Ramayana in which Rama saves his fiance, Sita, from capture. Monkeys and monsters were involved in the plot as well. As the story unfolded, the men and boys chanted in a way that was very staccato and percussive, but also included a melodic, lyrical solo line rising above the chanting. 

The traditional form of kecek involves entering into trances and performing super-human feats, such as walking on hot coals. The effect of the chanting does have a hypnotic quality to it. 

My picture-taking skills for night-time events are quite limited. As you'll see in the pictures. Just close your eyes and try to imagine 50 men and boys chanting in a rhythmic and percussive way.