Kecak Dance: Bali's Circle of Voices, From Trance Ritual to Ramayana

In Brief

The kecak dance is a Balinese dance-drama in which the whole orchestra is human. A bare-chested chorus of men sits in rings and calls "cak" in patterns whose interlocking rhythms create a powerful, unified sound. In the centre, dancers act out the Ramayana: Sita carried off by Rahwana, and Rama's rescue with Hanuman and the monkey army.

Kecak's chanting tradition is rooted in the sacred sanghyang ritual, a trance rite in which a male choir chants while entranced girls dance. In Bedulu, near Ubud, the dancer I Wayan Limbak, the villagers and the German painter Walter Spies turned that chorus into a staged drama for foreign audiences. Limbak's touring troupes made it famous.

Kecak is generally classified as a Balinese entertainment dance. It is performed mostly in the south, at venues such as Uluwatu Temple and Ubud, and in the north it turns up at festivals.

Kecak at a Glance

• What it is: A dance-drama accompanied only by a male chorus chanting "cak", with no instruments
• The story: Episodes of the Ramayana, usually the abduction of Sita and Hanuman's burning of Rahwana's kingdom
• Roots: Sanghyang, a trance ritual with a male chorus, performed to ward off harm
• Shaped in: Bedulu, near Ubud, in the early 1930s, by I Wayan Limbak, the villagers and Walter Spies
• Dance category: Balih-balihan, entertainment, in the Balinese three-fold system that UNESCO recognised in 2015
• Where to watch: Mainly south Bali. The Ministry of Tourism names Uluwatu Temple, Pura Dalem Taman Kaja in Ubud, Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Melasti Beach and Tanah Lot
• In the north: Occasionally at festivals, such as the Lovina Festival on Binaria Beach

Kecak's Chant Comes From Sanghyang, a Sacred Trance Ritual

Before it was a show, the cak chorus belonged to sanghyang.

The Buleleng Culture and Tourism Office describes sanghyang as a dance tradition in which the dancers enter an unconscious state. They communicate with God or the ancestors and pass their messages on to the community. Kecak's chant, the office says, was taken from that ritual.

UNESCO's inscription file for Balinese dance lists Sanghyang Dedari among the sacred dances. The nomination file describes a trance dance by two young girls, performed to counteract harmful supernatural forces.

The ethnomusicologist Kendra Stepputat, author of a book-length study of kecak, sets out the full rite in a 2010 paper. A women's choir prepares the girls, the girls are put into trance, and the male cak chorus accompanies their dancing.

Young women preparing flowers and a headdress before a Sanghyang Dedari ritual in Geriana Kauh, Karangasem. Photo: Kresnanta / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sanghyang is still sacred, and the north has it too. In Buleleng's Bali Aga villages, the regency's Research and Innovation Agency lists a Tari Sanghyang among the sacred dances young people perform as offerings. The villages themselves are in the Bali Aga villages of north Bali.

Spies, Limbak and the Villagers of Bedulu Shaped Kecak in the 1930s

Walter Spies was a painter and musician, born in Moscow to a German family in 1895. He settled in Ubud in 1927, as the Asian Review of Books recounts.

In 1931 and 1932 he helped make the German film Insel der Dämonen (Island of Demons) in Bedulu. It was released in 1933.

For the film's final temple festival, Stepputat writes, Spies staged a complete sanghyang dedari rite, with a lamp set in the middle of the male cak chorus. She suggests the lamp was probably there to light the faces for the camera. It was new then, and this damar kecak has been part of kecak ever since.

Many accounts call the film's scene the first kecak. In Stepputat's reading it was still a sanghyang with minor changes. The new drama, she writes, took shape around the same time, through the collaboration of Spies, the villagers of Bedulu and the dancer I Wayan Limbak.

Limbak Remembered It the Same Way

Limbak gave his own memory to The Jakarta Post in 2002. In his telling, the final form came from Spies working with the village elders, with Spies setting the theme and the timing. Limbak danced Kumbakarna, Rahwana's brother.

He took his troupe to festivals abroad, which is how kecak became known outside Bali. He died in Gianyar in 2003, reported to be 106 by the Los Angeles Times.

Men of a kecak chorus, in a photograph dated to about 1935. Photo: probably Gregor Krause, KITLV / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Kecak Has Kept Changing

In the 1970s the Javanese choreographer Sardono W. Kusumo worked with the village of Teges Kanginan in Ubud. Their kecak had more standing movement and coconut torches, The Jakarta Post reports.

In 2010 the women of Banjar Tengah, Ubud, began a women's kecak, Kecak Luh. Their trainer was I Gusti Lanang Oka Ardika, a dance lecturer at ISI Denpasar, according to Tribun Bali.

The Dancers Tell the Ramayana Without a Spoken Word

Kecak usually presents the part of the Ramayana in which Rahwana abducts Sita, says the Ministry of Tourism. Rama fights to win her back with the help of Hanuman and his monkey army. The ministry calls Hanuman setting fire to Rahwana's kingdom the most dramatic scene.

There is no spoken dialogue. The dancers playing Rama, Sita, Hanuman and Rahwana tell the story in classical Balinese movement, hand gestures and facial expression.

Limbak added other episodes. The Buleleng Culture and Tourism Office credits him and Spies with the fight in which the bird Jatayu and Hanuman take on Rahwana's forces. It also credits them with the duel of the two monkey kings, Subali and his younger brother Sugriwa.

The chorus becomes the setting too. In The Jakarta Post's description, the rings of men with arms splayed make a dense forest.

The Whole Orchestra Is Voice, Organised Like a Gamelan

Kecak has no gamelan.

The only instruments are the small bells tied to the ankles of the dancers who play the Ramayana roles, as the Buleleng Culture and Tourism Office notes. Everything else is voice, organised the way a gamelan is.

Stepputat explains the machinery. The chorus divides into interlocking parts. The most common pattern is cak telu, "cak three", three calls repeated over two beats, and a skilled group uses up to seven styles.

Three singers have parts of their own. A beat-keeper, the juru klempung, calls "pung" in imitation of the kajar, the gamelan's time-keeping gong.

The leader is the juru tarek, from tarek, to pull. This singer calls loudest, setting the tempo and signalling each change and the stop.

A third singer, the juru gending, carries the melody. The same voice replaces the great gong with a vibrating "sirrr" on every eighth "pung".

The Kecak Luh trainer names the patterns his singers had to learn, all fitted together into one sound:

• cak telu nyangsih
• cak telu nyangkelod
• cak lima
• cak nem

Kecak Is an Entertainment Dance With a Protective Purpose

In UNESCO's inscription file, kecak is listed with the balih-balihan, the entertainment dances, alongside Legong Kraton and the Barong Ket.

In Balinese understanding, the Ministry of Tourism adds, the sound drives away harmful spirits. That purpose goes back to the exorcism rite it came from.

Where to See Kecak: Five Stages in the South, Festivals in the North

The Ministry of Tourism names five places, all in the south:

• Uluwatu Temple, on the cliffs of the Bukit peninsula, where the performance is timed to the sunset over the Indian Ocean. More on the temple is in the best temples in Bali.
• Pura Dalem Taman Kaja, Ubud, a more intimate performance by local villagers, within walking distance of central Ubud.
• Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park, a staged production within the cultural park.
• Melasti Beach, Ungasan, performances on the sand, seasonal, so check before you go.
• Tanah Lot, not every day, often as part of special events.

The kecak chorus at the cliff-top amphitheatre of Pura Luhur Uluwatu. Photo: Midori / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Times and prices are set by each venue and they change, so check with the venue before you go.

Kecak Comes North for Festivals

We found no evidence of a regular kecak performance venue in Buleleng, and the Ministry's list is all in the south.

At the Lovina Festival in July 2023, children from the waste-bank community of Kalibukbuk performed kecak on Binaria Beach, and the regency's culture office filmed it.

The festival's current programme is in the Lovina Festival guide. The north's own traditions, from gong kebyar to the masked Wayang Wong of Tejakula, are in north Bali's dance and music.

How to Fit It In From Lovina

From Lovina, Uluwatu and Ubud are a long drive across the island. An evening kecak works best on a night spent in the south.

Palm Living's villas are around Lovina for the north end of the trip.

How to Watch Kecak Respectfully

Kecak on the open stage of Pura Dalem, Ubud, with the audience close behind the chorus. Photo: Jakub Hałun / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

• Uluwatu and Pura Dalem are temples. Wear a sarong and sash, cover your shoulders, and follow the rules in Bali temple etiquette.
• Arrive early and dress modestly, as the Ministry of Tourism advises.
• Stay out of the circle. The chorus and the lamp are the stage, so do not cross it for a photograph.
• Turn off the flash and keep your phone low for the people behind you.
• At Uluwatu, hold on to your things. The temple's monkeys take sunglasses and phones, as the best temples in Bali warns.
• If you meet sanghyang at a village ceremony, you are at a sacred rite. Stay at the back and follow the lead of the villagers. The setting is explained in Balinese ceremonies.

FAQ

What is the kecak dance? Kecak is a Balinese dance-drama performed to the chanting of a male chorus instead of a gamelan. The men sit in rings and call "cak" in interlocking rhythms while dancers in the centre act out an episode of the Ramayana.

What is the story behind the kecak dance? The Ramayana: Sita is abducted by Rahwana, and Rama fights to rescue her with the help of Hanuman and the monkey army. Performances often include Hanuman burning Rahwana's kingdom, and some add the fight of the monkey kings Subali and Sugriwa.

Who created the kecak dance? It grew from the chorus of the sanghyang trance ritual. In the early 1930s the dancer I Wayan Limbak, the villagers of Bedulu and the German painter Walter Spies shaped it into a staged Ramayana drama, and Limbak's touring troupes made it famous abroad.

What does kecak mean in English? The name comes from "cak", the call the chorus repeats, so the word is the sound itself. In English kecak is sometimes called the monkey dance, as in the Los Angeles Times obituary of Limbak, and old Dutch museum captions call it the apendans, the monkey dance.

Is kecak a religious dance? Its roots are religious, in the sanghyang trance ritual, but kecak itself is generally classed as an entertainment dance, one of the balih-balihan. Many venues are temples, so dress and behave as you would at one.

Where is the best place to watch kecak in Bali? The sunset performance at Uluwatu Temple is one of the best known. Ubud's Pura Dalem Taman Kaja offers a more intimate village performance, and the Ministry of Tourism also lists Garuda Wisnu Kencana, Melasti Beach and Tanah Lot.

Can you see kecak in north Bali? We found no evidence of a regular kecak venue in the north. Kecak appears there at festivals, such as the Lovina Festival, and the sanghyang tradition it came from survives in the Bali Aga villages of Buleleng as a sacred rite.

Sources

• Kendra Stepputat, The Genesis of a Dance-Genre: Walter Spies and the Kecak (2010), for the sanghyang rite, the film, the damar kecak and the parts of the chorus, read September 2026 (in English)
• UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Three genres of traditional dance in Bali and the nomination file, for Sanghyang Dedari and kecak's place among the entertainment dances, read September 2026 (in English)
• Indonesia Ministry of Tourism, Kecak Dance: the meaning and its philosophical movements, for the story, the movement and the five places to watch, read September 2026 (in English)
• The Jakarta Post, Limbak, Rina: two generations of kecak dancers, 18 May 2002, archived copy, read September 2026 (in English)
• Los Angeles Times, Wayan Limbak, 106; co-creator of Balinese monkey dance, 8 September 2003, read September 2026 (in English)
• Asian Review of Books, Letter from Bali: films of the 1930s, for Spies and Island of Demons, read September 2026 (in English)
• Buleleng Culture and Tourism Office, kecak at the Lovina Festival on Binaria Beach, July 2023, and the maestros behind popular Balinese dances, read September 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Buleleng Research and Innovation Agency, Sacred dances of the Bali Aga villages of Buleleng, read September 2026 (in Indonesian)
• The Tropenmuseum's photograph captions on Wikimedia Commons, such as De Kecak of apendans, for the Dutch name, read September 2026 (in Dutch)
• Tribun Bali, Kecak Luh, the women of Ubud, July 2017, read September 2026 (in Indonesian)

Read next: the Barong, Bali's guardian spirit, Legong, the court dance and Rejang, Bali's sacred offering dance.