Bali is the home of many ritual performances that do not exactly correspond to the traditional Western conceptions of \u201ctheatre\u201d or \u201cdance\u201d. They are mostly religious rituals, full of magical meaning to their performers and spectators.<\/p>\n
They may include dances and elements typical of theatrical performances, but are rarely intended for aesthetic or intellectual pleasure in the present-day Western sense of the term. In these rituals, dance and theatre are always made to serve religious and magical purposes. They are usually performed in the inner temple courtyards in connection with calendar feasts.<\/p>\n
The performers are mostly non-professional, although some forms of wali<\/i> may employ professional dancer-actors. In general, dancing skill is of secondary importance. Ritual performances fall into roughly two groups: ceremonial dances, generally ancient sacred dances of indigenous origin, and trance rituals in which the performers and sometimes the audience as well fall into a trance.<\/p>\nWali<\/i>, Ceremonial Dances and Their Secularised Variants<\/h2>\n
The most sacred dances are seen as an act of worship or a sign of devotion. Because of their nature they can be performed only in the most sacred part of the temple. Most of the wali<\/i> dances are believed to be derived from purely indigenous traditions, although they have later borrowed the vocabulary of Hindu-Javanese classical dance. As the most sacred dances are not meant to be performed publicly, it is quite understandable that they have led to secularised variants for commercial purposes.<\/p>\nBaris<\/i>, from a Sacred War Dance to a Dance of a Warrior<\/h2>\n\n\t\t