Dance is the main art form in Balinese culture, performed at the main temple festivals and in ceremonies of the cycle of life and death. The range of dances in hotels and on special stages is only a small fraction of what Balinese dance has to offer.
Balinese dance goes back as far as its written history. Ninth century inscriptions name the wayang (puppet theatre) and topeng (mask dance) as the main entertainment of the day. Gamelan music goes back still further to the Dong Son bronze culture of the first mil­lennium BC. Apart from the trance dances, much of the Balinese dance heritage actually originates from Java..
History of Balinese Dance
After the Majapahit warriors subdued Bali in the 14th century, Javanese mini-principalities and courts soon appeared everywhere, creating that unique blend of court and peasant culture, which is Bali - highly sophisticated, dynamic and lively. The accompanying narrative for dance and drama is to a large extent based on court stories from pre-Majapahit Java. Even the Indian epics, another favourite of the stage, especially the wayang, use Javanese, complete with long quotes from the ancient Javanese Kakawin poetry. So Javanese culture, which disappeared from Java following Islamization in the 16th century, still survived in Bali in a Balinese form, which became classical Balinese culture.
However, colonization brought about the fall of classi­cal Bali. With the rural courts defeated and with new lords of the land, the centre of creativity shifted to village asso­ciations, and to the development of tourism. The 30`s and 50`s were particularly fertile decades; while the old narrative-led theater survived, lively solo dances appeared everywhere, accompanied by a new, dynamic kind of music called gong kebyar. This trend continued in the 60's and 70's with the creation of colossal sendratari ballets, representing ancient Indian and Javanese stories adapted to the needs of modern audiences.
Dance & Religion
Balinese dance is inseparable from religion. A small offering of food and flowers must precede even dances for tourists. Before performing, many dancers pray at their family shrines, appealing for holy "taksu" (inspiration) from the gods.
In this rural tradition, the people say that peace and harmony depend on protection by the gods and ancestors. Dance in this context may fulfil a number of specific functions:
a) as a channel for visiting gods or demonic the dancers acting as a sort of living repos't These trance dances include the Sang Hyang De with little girls in trance, and the Sang Hyang J a fire dance;
b) as a welcome for visiting gods, such as the pe rejang and sutri dances;
c) as entertainment for visiting gods, such as the to and the wayang.
In some of these dances, the role of dancing important that it is actually the key to any meaning found in the ritual. In wayang performances, the puppeteer is often seen as the priest sanctifying the holy water.
 As well as their use in religious ceremonies, dance drama also have a strong religious content. It is often that drama is the preferred medium through which Balinese cultural tradition is transmitted. The epis performed are usually related to the rites taking placating a wedding one performs a wedding story; at a d ritual there is a visit to hell by the heroes. Cl (penasar) comment in Balinese, peppering their jokes religious and moral comments on stories whose narra use Kawi (Old-Javanese).
Movement & dance
The typical posture in Balinese dance has the legs half­torso shifted to one side with the elbow height­then lowered in a gesture that displays the sup­the hands and fingers. The torso is shifted in with the arms. If the arms are to the right, the is to the left, and vice-versa.
Apart from their costumes, male and female roles can ed mostly by the accentuation of these move The women's legs are bent and huddled together, open, so as to reveal a sensual arching of the back. legs are arched and their shoulders pulled up, remarked gestures, giving the impression of power.
Dance  movements follow on from each other in a can­ of gestures with no break and no jumping (except demonic or animal characters). Each basic pos­m), such as the opening of the curtain or the of the cloth, evolves into another agem through a on of secondary gestures or tandang. The progres­m one series to the other, and the change from left and vice-versa, is marked by a short jerky is called the angsel. The expression is completed cry of the face: the tangkep. Even the eyes dance, be seen in the baris and trunajaya dances.