During the heyday of tourism in Bali around 70s and 80s, the visitors to the paradise island usually had a chance or two to be showered by flowers by a group of girls with golden shiny costume holding a bowl of colorful flowers who danced the “Welcoming Dance” either in the hotel lobby or in airport. The Panyembrama (Welcoming) dance is a standard welcome dance that is always performed first in a dance program and regularly performed at Ngurah Rai Airport when distinguished guests from Jakarta or foreign dignitaries arrive.

The Panyembrama (Welcoming) dance is a purely secular dance that was created in 1967 by I Gusti Gede Raka, a well-known dance teacher form the village of Saba, in Gianyar regency’ based on the movement of the sacred rejang dance. After some reworking by I Wayan Beratha in 1970, the Panyembrama (Welcoming) dance reached its present form.

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The first day of Classical Dance and Drama Performance (9/27/2007) was a kind of traveling back to the forgotten era of Balinese dance and drama performance. The performances which took place in Art Centre Denpasar, began at 7:30 PM, on an open stage, luckily no there was no rain pouring down.

The first performance that night was Leko dance from Jembrana regency. Leko is a type of social dance, may be a flirtation dance as a matter of fact, the ancestor of widely popular Joged Bumbung dance. In old days, Leko was a palace dance, designed for the entertainment of the king, nowadays it is a popular social dance that anybody can enjoy and participate. It is performed by a pairs of female dancers and usually involves the audience.

The Leko performance that night was surely an entertainment, a pair of beautiful dancers danced with the accompaniment of rindik (an ensemble in which the instruments are made of bamboo) orchestra.

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