Tomorrow evening, 05/27/08, the real Sanghyang dedari dance will be held in Bukit Buluh Temple, in Banjar Gunaksa (Gunaksa hamlet), Ababi village, Karangasem regency. When I say the “real Sanghyang Dedari” what I refer to is not the popular Sanghyang Dedari dance that is staged for tourist consumption in Batubulan or other tourism resort. The Sanghyang Dedari that will be performed tomorrow is a ritual that is performed to exorcise the plague or pestilence.

Here is some information in relation with Sanghyang Dedari: Sanghyang Dedari is a sacred dance which can be found Badung, Gianyar and Bangli regency. This sacred dance is used to ward the pestilence or plague which swept Bali when the fanged demon living on the little island of Nusa Penida comes to Bali. Two dancers are chosen from all the girls of the village for their psychic aptitudes by the temple priest, to receive the spirit of heavenly nymphs, Dedari Supraba and Tunjung Biru (Blue Lotus). At the death temple, the Sanghyang Dedari dancers in white skirts kneel before a brazier of smoking incense in front of the altar.

During a trance ceremony, the priest makes offerings to the temple deity, requesting protection for the village. A chorus of women is seated in a circle around them, singing the Sanghyang song, which asks the celestial nymphs to descend from heaven and dance before the people through the girls’ bodies and incense is wafted about them.

(more…)

The Sanghyang dance is included in trance dance genre. This dance is believed to have the power to invite the gods or sacred spirits to enter the body of the dancers and put them in a state of trance. It dates back to the ancient Pre-Hindu culture, a time when the Balinese people strongly believed that by the help of Holy Spirit through a medium of dancer sickness and disease could be eliminated. The is dance is usually performed in the fifth or sixth month of the Balinese traditional calendar as it is believe that during these particular months, the Balinese are vulnerable to all kinds of illnesses, or in the time of plague, failed crops or disaster.

There are 6 kinds of sanghyang dance widely known by the people: Sangyang Dedari, Sanghyang Deling, Sanghyang Jaran, Sanghyang Bojog, Sanghyang Celeng and Sanghyang Grobogan.

(more…)