legong dance from bali indonesia

Legong is a classical Balinese dance group that has a very complex motion treasury tied with percussion accompaniment structure said to be the influence of "gambuh". Legong word comes from the word "leg" which means the motion of a flexible or limber dance and "gong" which means the gamelan. "Legong" thus implies a bound dance movement by the accompanying gamelan. Gamelan who used to accompany dance called Gamelan Semar legong Pagulingan.
Legong Kraton, the palace was developed in Bali in the 19th century, second half. It is said that the idea started from a prince of Sukawati is in a state of ill dream to see two girls dancing with graceful beautifully accompanied by gamelan. When the prince recovered from his illness, his dream was poured in a full repertoire of dances with gamelan.

In accordance with the beginning, which dancer legong standard is two girls who have not had a period, danced in the moonlight in the courtyard full moon palace. Both dancers, called legong, always equipped with a fan as a tool. In some there is a dancer dance legong addition, called skew, which is not equipped with a fan.


Dance structures generally consist of papeson, pangawak, pengecet, and pakaad. In the times, legong had lost popularity in the early 20th century by the rise of dance forms kebyar from the northern part of Bali. New revitalization efforts began in the late 1960s, with a dig back long documents for reconstruction.