The Kecak dance is performed at the Uluwatu Temple Amphitheatre everyday at the adjacent cliff-top stage at 6:00pm to 7:00pm.
Visitors are charged a nominal fee – Adult Rp.100,000 and Child Rp.70,000. What makes it the most favourite venue to watch a Kecak dance is the sunset background of the performance.
Around 5.00pm, the Amphitheatre was opened for the visitors.
It is a half round shape with the seating in timber on a concrete structure. We choose a place at the left hand side of the theatre.The seats were rather hard but we are ok with that.
We can see more and more people coming in as we can see that there is no limitation of the audiences in the amphitheatre, so once all of the tiered seating is filled, then the staffs direct the audience start to fill the walk ways. We can see there were still people coming in even the show started. 
And, because it is set in a circular amphitheatre, there is limited air flow so it gets hot really quickly,especially with the number of people squashed into in.
Luckily we brought our water with us, and we just use the script papers which given by the ticket counter as our paper fan.
The show started with the Emcee greeted to all the audiences and a brief explanation on the dance itself with the since of the sunset and the view of the sun setting over the water behind him was magnificent.
The priest blessing the fire and then the men come out to surround it and commence their singing/chanting which forms the music for the dance.
There were around 70 men wearing only a loin-cloth, the upper part of their bodies left bare.
They formed rows of circles, where in the middle is a coconut oil lamp which the priest blessed.
The men’s chorus chants the words “Cak ke-cak ke-cak ke-cak ke-cak”, in rhythm, over and over again. For this reason they are called the Kecak or Cak dance.The show is a combination of song, dance and theatre.
We read the story lines which given, and then it is better for us to understand the show was all about. It break down to 5 acts.
The Kecak Fire Dance synopsis goes that Sri Rama, the prince of the Ayodya kingdom was sent into exile by his father King Dasaratha following an evil trick by his stepmother Kaikeyi.
Deep in a monkey forest (which fits in perfectly with Uluwatu’s setting), Rama is accompanied by his wife Sita and loyal younger brother Laksamana.
The evil Rahwana, who had a crush on Sita, knew of this, and set out to kidnap her.
The rescuing effort by the two brothers ensues with help from the monkey king Hanoman and his monkey troops.
Rahwana eventually subdued, the two lovers are finally reunited right after the setting sun.
The fire torches in the stage’s centre flicker against the darkened sky and the echoing chants subside.
After the performance, the fire dance come in.
They place a ring of fire around the centre and a monkey dancer moves in, over and around this, as part of the performance he kicks the lit tinder around causing sparks to fly into the nearer audiences.
The show ended with the big claps from all the audience and photo taking with the dancers.
The day that we watched this show, the night before was heavy rain and thunderstorm had make the electricity short circuit which resulted there was no night lighting.
Thus, there were a lot of audience with good cameras went for the photo session. The rest of the people like us just left at the same time, causing traffic jams in the car park and along the access road out.
We have enjoyed the shows very much! and, it is really a must see in Bali!
We headed to Jimbaran for our seafood dinner. It took us about almost 45 minutes from Uluwatu to Jimbaran.
We had our dinner at a place called Sri Gangga Café. The staffs hospitality were really good, just the food served here really poor and we were never come back again.
The food here were tasteless, and extremely expensive and not fresh!
We had 2 types of fish Rp.308,000 and Rp332,000 and some squid Rp.245,000 and all of it cooked with same method - grilled!
We ordered 1 Coca-Cola Rp.15,000, 2 Soda Gembira Rp.40,000 and 1 lemon juice Rp20,000.
Even though the dishes came with white rice and vegetables, plus the service and tax it come to the total of Rp.1,104,000!
This was the most expensive meals we had ever, even in our homeland!
We decided to pay it using MasterCard, also have additional charges and the bill become Rp.1,138,000!
Through our experience, we still find that Malaysia have the best seafood dinner ever! And, it can come with various method of cooking – steam, salt baked, oven baked, etc. And it is delicious and fresh!
Well, the staffs serving there were very helpful and friendly, just the food itself really spoilt our day! If not it could be a beautiful day we had!
Overall the night was great despite the dinner! We were thinking of if next time we would have a chance to come Bali again, we wouldn’t want to come for the seafood dinner again!
No comments:
Post a Comment