Kecak
"The Monkey Dance"

No feast is complete in Bali without music and elaborate drama and dance performance. During the anniversary feast of the temple, there are always dances that last throughout the night and may even continue for days with a different type of show every afternoon and night. There are two types of dance performances: sacred and provan ones.

That is the reason why the formal publication by the Foreign Affair Department of the country in promoting Bali in 1960 published the booklet entitled "Bali – the island of temples and dances". Miguel Covarrubias, who came to Bali in the spring of 1930, saw the only one publication of the paradise island – a splendid album of the photograph by Gregor Krause. He then wrote his experience in the book "The Island of Bali" (1937).
The author, a Mexican, was not only a brilliant painter but also an intelligent traveler and serious student of anthropology. Only an artist could have penetrated so deeply into the spirit of dances, theater, music, decorative art and past time of Bali. Through this book, Bali has been attracting more and more tourists to come.
As the host, the Balinese offer the dances in its functional dance performed in the temple festival and other traditional ceremony to their guest. They create provan dance – served to the tourist, since the rapid growth of mass tourism since 1970-s.
The most popular one is the Kecak Dance, also the most colossal. Miguel Covarrubias wrote that Kecak is the large group of men singing in chorus, moving and dancing to the rhythm of music.

The Vocal Chant
Cak or Kecak, is one of Bali’s most well-known performing art forms seen by tourist and has become a memorable past of any visitor’s stay to the island. Although Kecak is a relatively new dramatic form, it has become one of Bali’s popular performing arts for tourist. Kecak, sometimes is called the "Monkey Dance" by foreigners, has become a must see entertainment for both foreign and domestic visitors in Bali. Charmed by the artistic beauty of Kecak, and impressed by its dramatic intensity, many have featured this art form in countless post card, book, film, painting and other publication on Bali. Kecak is a secular art form that embodies the spirit and aesthetic elements of the ancient and modern traditions of Bali.
Kecak integrates both dance and drama, but ultimately the artistic beauty of kecak lies in its intricate vocal chanting. The complex and multi layered sounds of " Cak Cak Cak " chanted by the chorus into various rhythmic patterns is at once the essence and soul of Kecak. The secular Kecak emerged during the Dutch occupation in Bali. There are two different versions of the creativity of Kecak.
The first states that secular Kecak was originally created in Bedahulu, Gianyar through the joint efforts of the German born artist Walter Spies and the people of Bedulu. The second version states that secular Kecak was inspired by the emotional and dramatic intensity the ritual Kecak chorus he saw in a local performance of Sanghyang Dedari. In 1932, Spies was consultant for a German film company producing a movie in Bali called "The Island of Demons". The story is Ramayana from the Indian epic. Now a day, Kecak dance is formed throughout the island. During the Ubud festival 2006, 1,000 artists performed Kecak.
The first group of Kecak is founded in the hamlet Batugaing, Braban Village – Kediri, Tabanan, by the brothers I Wayan Sukandia and I Made Bogaartha (the villages) and I Ketut Rina of Teges Gianyar. The 150 chanters and dancers perform Kecak Ramayana at Dewi Shinta Hotel at Tanah Lot as regular cultural event. The late local artist, Kay It Tanaya at Tabanan has created "Kecak Dynamic" on his canvases. (BTN/Lanus Sumatra)