As a legacy of its connection to the highly civilized Javanese/Balinese court life of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries past, Batuan has today the widest variety of dances on the whole island, a richness which has in turn nourished many generations of gifted sculptors and painters.


Gambuh, the Oldest Form of Dance-Drama in Bali

Gambuh is the oldest form of dance-drama in Bali. Although it is not clear exactly when the form as it exists today emerged, it was probably between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Bandem and deBoer consider it a "direct descendant" of the raket dance-dramas of Majapahit which have undergone very little, if any, change since first developed.

When the dance-dramas of Majapahit came to Bali, they had the new task of preserving the tradition of a fallen dynasty. Gambuh is said to preserve the "manners and ideals of the highly civilized Javanese/Balinese court life of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries." Perhaps it is this preservationist function that has encouraged such conservatism in the Gambuh tradition. This is perhaps even more true today in Indonesia's guided democracy, where the courts have been dis-empowered and replaced by the national government.

Gambuh is critical to the study of Balinese performing arts, as it is seen as the source of all Balinese dance-drama that exists today. Gambuh brought a narrative element to Balinese performance.46 This narrative form was very quickly adopted and incorporated into new forms, resulting in the great variety of dance-drama forms now so famous in Bali .include: Arja, Wayang Wong, Topeng, Calonarang, Parwa, Drama Gong, and Sendratari. They represent a variety of dance and music styles, dramatic forms, literary traditions, and a wide range of ritual necessity and function. Yet, they are all related to the Gambuh tradition.

In addition to its literary contributions to the arts, Gambuh also made significant choreographic contributions to Balinese dance. Gambuh has a rich vocabulary of dance movements which are the basis for much of Balinese dance except, of course, for forms indigenous to Bali (e.g., Rejang and Berutuk). The increasingly complex movements that developed with Gambuh supported the development of the narrative element by providing a greater vocabulary and range of movement which could be utilized in character development. This type of characterization by movement has been developed to a high art form in both Bali and Java.

Also of great importance are the musical contributions that Gambuh made to the Balinese performing arts. The complex melodies and drum patterns of Gambuh became the base from which almost all of the now "classical" forms of Balinese music arose, and the relationship between the music and the dance became a model for forms that were to follow.

Despite its great contributions to the development of Balinese performing arts, in the 1990's Gambuh is extremely rare. There is a clear lack of popularity among even the most dedicated of young Balinese artists who may respect the form but are unlikely to want to study it or even go out of their way to see a performance. The general Balinese audience is even less likely to be interested.

Gambuh is a highly demanding art form involving not only demanding dance technique but also dialogue in Kawi. It requires that both the musicians and dancers understand a form of music that is extremely complex and subtle. The long performances (originally four to five hours), refined language, complex musical and choreographic form, and, perhaps most significantly, the absence of comic relief are also demanding of the audience.

According to one artist, Gambuh is seldom truly appreciated by the audience; thus, there is little emotional or financial incentive to perform this dance-drama. In addition, according to this artist, few people have the keturunan (lines of descent, ancestry) to be able to "feel" and give jiwa (spirit) to the form.

Another artist, a teacher of Gambuh, noted that when the royalty sponsored artistic groups, including very large Gambuh troupes, they were quite protective of certain roles. Talented non-royal artists were encouraged to dance; however, they were discouraged from taking roles such as the refined princes and princesses. These were reserved for the real royalty. Thus, those who wished to study these roles were forced to mencuri (steal) by learning without formal study and without performing these roles in public.49

This exclusivity may be having repercussions now. There are few who are able to perform Gambuh. At present only one or two villages have active Gambuh groups. In total there are perhaps only four groups that perform in the Gambuh style. This is in contrast to groups that perform gong kebyar, the form that at present is the most popular performing art form. These groups very easily number in the hundreds for the regency of Gianyar alone, where the number of gong kebyar in one village can easily outnumber the total number of Gambuh groups on the entire island.

For more, go to Emiko Susilo's "Gambuh: A Dance-Drama of the Balinese Courts"

Also see Marc Perlman's "Music of the Gambuh Theater: Bali's Ancient Dance Drama"

Gambuh Preservation Project
At the end of the 1980s, the beautiful gambuh was slowly dying amidst financial difficulties – it requires large sets of dancers, instruments and costumes – and growing disinterest among the Balinese. The rescue started when an Italian Dancer, Cristina Formaggia, fell in love with gambuh – she took ten years to study the old dance, becoming a recognized master of one of the main roles. Working with the Batuan temple troop and nearby communities, she started the Gambuh Preservation Project, with the help of the Ford Foundation.

The Arti Foundation  (Yayasan Arti)
In the late 1990's, Kadek Suardana, Brett Hough and Mari Nabeshima of The Arti Foundation sought to reinvigorate the gambuh though adapting and extending it for their own creative purposes. The project combined the ancient dance drama with the western Shakespearian tradition in a way that preserved the essence of both. The result was called Gambuh Macbeth. This example offers a model for creatively preserving traditional forms by adaptation.

Music of the Gambuh Theater

Performed by Seka Gambuh Pura Desa Adat Batuan, Bali
Recorded by Wayne Vitale
Vital Records 501

A gorgeous entire CD of the music of the gambuh theater of Bali, recorded by Wayne Vitale. It is a real joy to be able to hear an entire chunk of this music. The ensemble consists of five players on the meter long, suling, the special end blown flute used for gambuh, along with rebab and a number of drums, single gongs and other percussion. The music is powerful and dramatic with fluttering percussion pulsing under long slow melodies. Hearing it brings to mind Colin McPhee's description of a Balinese audience enjoying Gambuh, sitting for hours and even though they cannot fully understand the text sung in the archaic language, they drift in and out of sleep, hypnotized by the magic of ancient words evoking place names and historical events from their memory.

A short MP3 clip from Gambuh Sekar Gadung























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