A New Balinese Contemporary Dance: Legong Mintaraga
After successful performance of Bedaya Legong Calonarang Fusion Dance in Esplanade Theater Singapore, Ayu Bulan Dance Workshop presented its new opus, Legong Mintaraga which was staged for the first time at Ancak Saji (front courtyard) of Puri Agung Peliatan (Great Palace of Peliatan) on Wednesday 8/29/07, in a series of legong dance performances to honor the legendary dance teachers Anak Agung Gde Mandera and Gusti Made Sengog.
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The Legong Mitaraga enacts a piece of Arjuna Wiwaha story which is based on the great epic Mahabharata. Unlike the traditional legong which is danced by three dancers, the Legong Mintraga is dance by six dancers, interestingly most of them are not Balinese, they come from various ethnicities of Indonesia. The musical accompaniment for this new legong dance was adapted from Collin McPhee’s Nocturne, a unique composition in his magnum opus ‘Tabuh-tabuhan’.
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The story of Legong Mintaraga begins with the wandering of five Pandawas in the forest, one day a sage, Bhagawan Byasa came and gave them an advice to find a mighty weapon to win the great war in near future. The difficult task of acquiring the mighty weapon was given to Arjuna since he was the best wielder of the weapon among the five Pandawa. Arjuna accepted the task and began his journey to find a suitable meditating place, Arjuna felt various emotions during his wandering but he finally managed to subdue all his emotion and found a suitable place to meditate.
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During his meditation Arjuna was tested by the god Shiva by sending beautiful angels led by their leader Supraba to seduce him, but once again Arjuna managed to control his feeling. After the failure of the angels god Shiva sent a demon in the form of wild boar to disturb Arjuna’s meditation. He finally awaked because of the disturbance caused by the wild boar, he chased the boar and killed it but at the same time a hunter (manifestation of god Shiva) came and killed the boar also. The hunter claimed that he was the one who killed the boar, but Arjuna denied the hunter’s claimed since he thought that he was the one who killed the boar. They finally engaged in a fight and Arjuna was defeated by the hunter. After defeating Arjuna, the hunter resumed his true form, god Shiva, and bestowed a mighty Pasupati weapon to Arjuna for his determination and bravery.
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The Legong Mintaraga adapted this story in legong style in which a dancer can play various characters with only a slight change of costume such as addition of a sash, a mask or long fingernails. The Legong Mintaraga does not enact the story as clear as a dramatic performance of Arja or Gambuh, it is like a poem gives much room for the audience’s imagination to form their own interpretation of the story. As any other Balinese dance and dramatic performance the beauty of a dance lies not on its story but on the dance itself, and Legong Mintaraga is definitely a beautiful piece.
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I will not take your opportunity of discovering the beauty of Legong Mintaraga by giving the details of the dance. You have to watch it yourself to discover its beauty.