Barong

The tradition & historical record

Barong dance (Balinese: ᬩᬅᬭᬑᬂ) is a style of traditional Balinese from Bali, Indonesia. The dance demonstrates about the mythological depiction of animals that have supernatural powers and the ability to protect humans. Barong is the king of the spirits, leader of the hosts of good, and the enemy of Rangda, the demon queen and mother of all spirit guardians in the mythological traditions of Bali. The Barong dance featured a battle between Barong and Rangda to represent the eternal battle between good and evil. ¹

The Barong is a type of mythical lion, which is a popular dance in Bali. The dance originated in the Gianyar region, specifically Ubud, a popular destination for tourists to watch Balinese dance rituals. Within the Calon Arang, the dance drama in which the Barong appears, the Barong responds to Rangda's use of magic to control and kill her to restore balance. In traditional Barong dance performances, he is portrayed in his struggles against Rangda, a popular part of Balinese culture. The mythical creature would dance along the street to the Calon Arang dance. A priest would throw holy water at it. The dance opens with two playful monkeys teasing Barong in a peaceful environment. ¹

The Balinese keris dance is a segment of a Barong dance performance depicting a battle between Barong and Rangda, in which the dancers wield krises as weapons. The keris dance is considered sacred since it involves magical trance. During the scene, Rangda appears and casts black magic upon the male dancers, who represent Airlangga's soldiers, and orders them to commit suicide. Meanwhile, Barong and the priest cast protective magic on them, making them invulnerable to sharp objects. In a trance, the soldiers stab themselves with their kris, but remain unhurt. The keris dance carries the risk for potentially deadly accidents. In February 2021, a 16-year-old male dancer died after being stabbed by his own kris, during a Rangda dance performance in Banjar Blong Gede, Pemecutan Kaja, Denpasar, Bali. ¹

The dance ends with the final battle between Barong and Rangda, concluding with Barong's victory. Rangda runs away, the evil is defeated, and the celestial order is restored. ¹

The Reog dance of Ponorogo in Java involves a lion figure known as the singa barong. It is held on special occasions such as the Lebaran (Eid al-Fitr), City or Regency anniversary, or Independence day carnival. A single dancer, or warok, carries the heavy lion mask about 30 – 40 kg weight by his teeth. He is credited with exceptional strength. The warok may also carry an adolescent boy or girl on its head. When holding an adolescent boy or girl on his head, the Reog dancer holds the weight up to total 100 kilograms. The great mask that spans over 2.5 meters with genuine tiger or leopard skin and real peacock feathers. It has gained international recognition as the world's largest mask. ¹

Barongsai is referred to Chinese lion dance, often performed by Chinese Indonesian during Imlek. The barongsai has different forms that are distinct to the Balinese barong and Javanese reog, and it is not known if these have any relation to the Chinese lion. ¹

The text above is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Barong dance”, available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence. ¹

Barong is Traditional Balinese and Javanese dance, according to the structured record cited below. This entry was generated automatically from that record and has not yet been reviewed by a person familiar with the tradition. ²

The source record links this tradition to 2 external registers, which can be verified through the citation. ²