Kacek

Last night I went to another traditional Balinese performance, this one called Kacek, a fire  dance. It was moved "indoors" because of possible rain and I was led down the street by an old woman to an alleyway that I had not previously noticed that led to a huge beautiful open temple pavilion. Maybe 30-40 people watched a show by at least that many.Barechested men of all ages wearing the traditional black and white check sarong, sat crosslegged on the noise doing an amazing a cappella accompaniment of noises and singing, sometimes body swaying and gestures and then a story was performed by a group of traditional dancers which ended in a mound of coconut husks being lit and then a man riding through it on a horse prop and stepping and kicking on the fire. Then the burning coals are swept up and he rides through it again, scattering them across the floor and this is repeated until they are all gone. Hard to photograph in the darkness but here is. A Clip from a Kacek dance on Youtube

It reminded me a lot of Polynesian culture - I forget how close this place is to the South Pacific in the grand scheme of things.