Kebyar duduk

The tradition & historical record

Kebyar Duduk (Balinese: ᬓᭂᬩ᭄ᬬᬃᬥᬸᬥᬸᬓ᭄) is a traditional Balinese dance created by a Balinese man I Ketut Marya and first performed publicly in 1925. Inspired by the development of the quick-paced gamelan gong kebyar, kebyar duduk is named for the seated and half-seated positions taken by the dancers. It does not convey a story, but is interpretative. ¹

The kebyar duduk dance was first performed in 1925 and designed by I Ketut Marya (better known in the West as I Mario) of Tabanan, Bali. In designing the kebyar duduk dance, I Mario was influenced by recent innovations in Balinese gamelan, which allowed interpretation of the music as well as a fast tempo. This development, known as the gamelan gong kebyar, was manifested early on in legong dances (specifically, kebyar legong), from which I Mario drew his inspiration. I Mario later developed the dance further, adding long instruments with inverted kettle gongs known as trompong; this form is known as kebyar trompong, though the original kebyar duduk remains I Mario's most famous creation. I Mario taught his students how to dance kebyar duduk, and thus it proliferated throughout Bali. One such student, I Wayan Badra, performed for President Sukarno in the 1950s. By 2004 the dance was becoming rare, but its popularity increased, such that in 2011 a competition for dancing kebyar duduk and one of Mario's other creations, oleg tamulilingan (1952), was held. Around this time a group of Tabanan residents argued that the dance had shifted far from I Mario's original vision, and began teaching what they considered to be the "original" version. Kebyar duduk was performed internationally as early as 1931, when a troupe which may have included I Mario or an early disciple performed it as part of a set (also including legong, barong, and baris) at the Paris Colonial Exposition. ¹

Generally, the kebyar duduk dance is performed by a single male dancer, though his make-up makes him appear almost androgynous. He wears a 5-metre (16 ft) long piece of fabric (kamben), which is decorated with a gold-painted pattern known as a prada. His accessories and headgear (the latter known as an udeng) are golden and shimmering; because of this, and the traditional designs in these accessories, the writer Kartika Suardana characterizes them as giving an "extra exotic traditional effect". In his right hand, the dancer holds a fan. During the performance, the dancer is mostly seated or half-seated, at times taking a cross-legged squatting position. At times, fan in hand, the dancer will spin around in circles without standing. His eyes are very active, conveying a wide range of emotions, which can range from coquettish to bashful to angry over the course of routine. This dance is, however, purely interpretative, and not intended to convey a story. The music is played with fast, complex rhythms and striking sounds. The musicologist Michael Tenzer characterizes the relationship between the drummer in the gamelan troupe and the dancer as almost a type of contest. The drummer, while beating out a tempo of four beats per second, must also respond quickly to the dancer's cues by signalling the other members of the gamelan troupe. The dancer, meanwhile, must send his cues (flourishes known as angsel) in a fixed relation to the metre of the music. Towards the end of a performance, however, the drummer and dancer may engage in a sort of duet, seeming to struggle for control of the music. ¹

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

Kebyar duduk is Indonesian traditional 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 1 external register, which can be verified through the citation. ²