Balinese Kecak Dance at CKS Memorial 中正紀念堂廣場的 印尼克差舞表演

After the encounter with the cosplay folks in Ximending 西門町, we walked across town a bit to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial 中正紀念堂. Ping had learned about a performance of traditional Balinese Kecak Dance 克差舞 that was to be held there. Our route led past another event: the closing party after a parade in support of gay marriage. Once again, we fit right in (if you don't count the guys in black vinyl hot pants, suspenders and homburg hats who stood out in contrast to everyone else there).

The Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial is a wonderful venue for outdoor events with its wide expanses of stone pavement. The Balinese dance was held next to the National Theater Concert Hall 國家戲劇院,
in a paved area bracketed by curving ramps on either side which lead up to a balconied porch at the entrance to the hall. We stood at the top of the ramp and watched the performance from above and behind. (Panoramic picture below courtesy of Wikipedia.)

Click on the pictures to see them full size.
It turned out to be a great vantage point since we were able to see backstage and also get a bird's-eye view of the action.

The traditional Balinese ensemble was playing as we arrived and soon the female dancers took the stage.

Ping and I commented about how Balinese music all sounds the same to our ears. How they remember the long, intricate pieces is a mystery. Somehow, they know each rhythmic nuance. While I could distinguish the changes, I certainly couldn't predict them.

Apparently, the female dance is part of a long story which continues as an "old man" comes out. In this case, the man was actually old enough to have completely silver hair (something we could see later on when he took off his mask and headdress backstage).

He was amazingly lithe and well balanced, and he quickly had the kids in the audience laughing at his antics. How much of this dance was improvised, we're not sure, but we're guessing he was having fun playing around out there.

The dance continues with the arrival of three women. We're not sure exactly what the story is here, but the thing one of the women is carrying is used in the next dance.

After the old man and the three women left the stage, a local university professor came out and enthusiastically introduced the different instruments of the Balinese orchestra, including the gamelan which is the traditional "marimba" of Bali. It has only five notes. In fact, all Balinese music is based on these five notes! Now we know why they "all sound the same" to our ears!

The professor went on to explain that in the next dance, the dancer/singers would be imitating each of these orchestral instruments, and how critical it was for all of them to work together to create the music. Since each voice represented a single instrument, and most of the instruments were percussive, the complex polyrhythms could be achieved only by carefully coordinating the individually syncopated parts.

For the first five minutes of this part of the show go to the video on our YouTube channel. You'll hear how the choir (the group in the lower left portion of the picture, above) starts and you'll see them move out into the dance space and form a circular lake which moves with the wind. We've uploaded the raw footage in hopes that you get the full effect of the pacing and progression without any editing or commentary. The solo voice you hear about 2/3 of the way into it is the "old man" who plays the king, singing through his mask.

Ping's camera battery gave out and my camera wasn't taking great night shots, so we can't show you the whole thing, but here's the story in a nutshell (thanks to Ping for relaying the synopsis!).

The king's wife has a treasure box given to her by a god with whom she had an affair. The "old man" returns as the king who takes the treasure box from the queen and stomps away with it after she tells him how she got it. (It seems that the soap operas of the gods are a global phenomenon.) His twin brothers try to retrieve the treasure box after the king (their father) throws it into the lake. They turn into monkeys after touching the water! There's a pitched kung-fu-style battle between them. You should have seen them leaping high in the air and landing barefoot on the stone pavement! You can tell who's winning because the waters of the lake take sides, and one side lies flat when their guy isn't doing well. The battle escalates until the waters themselves get involved, fighting each other and carrying their monkey champions on their shoulders. Finally, the king arrives and forgives everyone, which reverses multiple curses and sets everything to rights again. It was a wonderful, magical show!

When it was all over, we went down to the MRT station at the corner of the park and took the light rail back to Beitou. As we started walking home, Ping had another great idea. Oh, yeah, we're right near our favorite shave ice place at the Beitou market! Yummy! The line wasn't too long, and we even found a seat inside. You can ask for more ice if you want it half way through your bowl. I did, and they gave me an avalanche of it--so good on a hot night!

We were so lucky! When we came out after we finished, the line stretched to the end of the block! Ping counted 35 people.

How amazing to have great street food, watch a Halloween parade, walk amongst the elaborately costumed fantasy heroes, and then see and hear an aboriginal art form, all accessible on foot, by bus and by MRT. Total expenditure for the whole day: about $9 (U.S.) for two people, transportation included.