Here is an interesting excerpt on legong dance and its survival which is taken from a thesis entitled “The role of Westerners in the conservation of the Legong dance” by Stephen Davies.

Attracted to Bali’s exotic beauty and its arts, foreign scholars and émigrés have played a crucial role since the 1920s in brokering the relation between Bali and the outside world. Their impact on the direction of the arts in Bali was considerable. For example, in the 1930s, not only was Walter Spies, with Rudolph Bonnet, a major influence on new styles of Balinese painting, he was also responsible (with Katharane Mershon) for commissioning the creation of the Kecak dance as a tourist entertainment. He was, as well, a great collector, founder of the Bali museum, and co-author with Beryl de Zoete of the first book devoted to Balinese dance and drama (Spies & de Zoete 2002). Other long-term residents—Colin McPhee, Miguel Covarrubias, John Coast, Fred B. Eiseman Jr.—and anthropologists or ethnomusicologists—Mantle Hood, Margaret Mead, Michael Tenzer, among others—have written at length in English or Dutch on Balinese dance, drama, and music. Several studies of Balinese dance and drama— Bandem & DeBoer 1995 and Dibia & Ballinger 2004—have resulted from collaborative authorships between Westerners and Balinese.

Colin McPhee, who wrote the most important early study of Balinese music (McPhee 1966) as well as a significant commentary on Balinese dance (McPhee 1948) was devoted to preserving the classical pelegongan repertoire; that is, the music and orchestra associated with the Legong dance. Writing of the 1930s, which he describes as a period of great change in Balinese music, he observes: “To try to preserve in some form of record this period in Balinese music, while older styles and methods survived, became my desire” (McPhee 1966:xiv). McPhee arranged for musicians to be taught the music and encouraged its revival (McPhee 2000).

Active participation by expatriates in the preservation of Legong still continues. Yayasan Polosseni of Teges, which is directed by an Australian, Douglas Myers, has issued a series of recordings of Legong dances performed by a replica of McPhee’s semar pegulingan orchestra. Myers employs the famous dance teacher, Sang Ayu Ketut Muklin, to pass on the old choreographies from Bedulu, where she was taught in the 1930s. Meanwhile, a New Zealander, Von Hatch, advertises (under the name of his Balinese wife) to the expatriate community in the following terms: “Gamelan and Dance Association, Mekar Bhuana, appeals for donations to buy dance costumes for our young legong dancers. Help us preserve the endangered Sanur legong dance,” and again, “MEKAR BHUANA – Classical Gamelan & Dance – performances for Weddings, Hotels/Villas, Events (Lessons, Wedding Costumes, Dance Costumes, Dress up, Instrument sourcing). You will be helping to preserve endangered Balinese art forms” (Balinese Advertiser, September 1-15, 2004, pp. 39, 42).

Not everyone with an interest in Balinese culture moves there, of course. Some come to study for a relatively short period. In addition to musicians, significant numbers of young women from Japan and the US have arrived to study dance. A few of these stay and contribute to performance in the Balinese context. The norm, though, is for these foreign musicians and dancers to return to their home cultures, and to help kindle in their compatriots a passion for the arts of Bali.

In addition, foreign donors have earmarked funds for the preservation of indigenous art forms. One prominent source is the Ford Foundation. In 1974-78, this financed study of the status of Legong, documentation of the tradition (including film of famous teachers), and attempts to revive endangered dances. One result of this initiative was a series of scholarly studies by Balinese dancers and musicians, including Proyek Pengembangan Sarana Wisata Budaya Bali: Perkembangan Legong Sebagai Seni Pertunjukan (Project to promote Balinese cultural things/events: Promotion of Legong as a performance art), which was produced in 1974/75 by a committee including Pak Panji, the late I Nyoman Rembang, and Dr Wayan Sinti. The Ford Foundation continues to support endangered Balinese arts, such as Legong and Gambuh.

The most powerful and obvious Western force acting on Balinese culture is that of tourism. Though cultural performances were arranged for tourists as early as the 1930s, it was not until the advent of mass tourism, beginning in the 1970s, that the impact of tourism became significant. Among other results, it was in the late 1970s that groups began weekly performances for tourists. Prominent among these are shows advertised as “Legong Dances”. Typically (but not inevitably), these contain one Legong dance—usually Legong Lasem, also identified as Legong Keraton—along with a potpourri of other dances in other styles. Since the late 1980s, tourists in the Ubud region have had the choice of three or four different concerts on every night of the week. The tourists who attend these shows are interested in the cultural experience, but most have no prior understanding or appreciation of Balinese dance and music.
The risks of negative effects from tourist performances are frequently discussed. By repeatedly performing before ignorant audiences, musicians can become slipshod and bored. Performers sometimes cater to the inappropriate expectations of the audience; for example, by posing for “photo opportunities”. The dancers and musicians are semi-professional (though frequently underpaid), and this has translated into a widespread, assumption among musicians that rehearsal and practice are necessary only where a paid concert (or a temple ceremony) is in view.

In the case of the Legong dance, tourist concerts involve clear departures from the tradition. Usually only one work from the repertoire, Legong Lasem, is played; frequently this is given on unconsecrated stages that are not appropriately aligned according to Balinese cosmological principles of spiritual purity and power; young women, rather than prepubescent girls, perform; the sung narrative frequently is dropped; and, whereas the complete version of the piece lasts up to 50 minutes, the tourist rendition is ruthlessly cut, sometimes to only 12 minutes. Cokorda Istri Ratih Iryani, then a 22-year old dancer from Peliatan, is quoted in the mid-1980s as saying: “The shorter dances for tourists are not true Balinese culture. The movements are the same but the dances are not complete” (Mabbett 1985:136).

One does not have to be duped by government propaganda (as critically discussed in Vickers 1989, Picard 1990) alleging an intimate tie between the preservation of culture and the development of tourism to find benefits from tourism for Balinese dance, however. Tourism has increased the general level of wealth to the point where many banjar—the basic unit of sub-village community government—now can afford two or three different kinds of gamelan and thereby can support more clubs playing a greater variety of music and dances. The semar pegulingan orchestras that had become so rare are now making a comeback, which draws attention again to the Legong dance. Moreover, some groups have come to realize they can exploit tourist concerts to expand and maintain their repertoires. For example, since 1995 the Legong group Tirta Sari of Peliatan have performed two Legong dances in their tourist concerts (each of 20-25 minutes’ duration). By alternating their program, they have added the Legong dances Jobog, Kuntir, Kuntul, Pelayon, and Semarandana to their tourist repertoire. Another group, the Peliatan Masters, have regularly performed a more or less complete, 45-minute version of Legong Lasem for tourists.

Besides, some of the departures from tradition noted earlier are not all bad. Agung Rai of Saba suggests (pers. comm.) there is no virtue in performing long versions of Legong dances; even the Balinese find these tiresome. Provided the dances are edited tastefully (cutting excessive repetition but not eliding whole sections), there is no loss in shortening them. Moreover, older dancers who otherwise would have retired can continue to display their talents in public performance, as well as going on as teachers.

There is another way tourists could play a vital role in the future of the Legong dance: they have created a massive legacy of recordings and films covering many Balinese regions. Many Balinese musicians and dancers believe regional varieties of the traditional dance forms cannot be lost, even as the older teachers die, so long as the current generation can access such films and recordings. Not surprisingly, the sourcing and archiving of film materials is now attracting attention.

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