Story of Bali, Indonesia

But if they are good dancers there is a great fascination in this gay and noisy phalanx, with their provocative smiles and vehement gestures. When all but one have left the stage the remaining Arya does an impressive solo, drawing up each leg with a rapid folding motion, then placing it gently on the ground and bending over it, while he holds out his robe with his elegantly clustered fingers. The patih now draws near, with insinuating steps and full, sweet voice, moving, like all refined characters in Balinese dance, very near to the ground.

They dance together, neither dancer ever moving in a straight line, but always as if treading out a tortuous maze. At last the patih remains alone, stepping delicately with many modulations of voice and body; till the melody changes and he kneels in the middle of the stage to receive the king.
The king in Gamboeh, as in Topeng and in the Javanese Wajang Wong, may be of two kinds-refined or strong; roughly, effeminate or 'hearty', though of course in neither case does any reproach attach to the term; they are simply different kinds of being with a different role to fill

The 'fine' type speaks in a high, thin voice, with effeminate, almost whining accents. His movements are clinging, graceful, and slow, passing with delicate. Gradation from one to another. One downward-pointing hand, held languidly at some distance from the body, fingers the border of his robe, the other is extended with rotating wrist, and fingers continually folding and opening in some new, flower-like pattern. Slow, almost stationary phrases will be varied by swift, light accents, like a ripple on the surface of calm water. His head will droop like a flower on its stalk; his feet caress the ground as he moves from one enchanting pose to another, every nerve and muscle of his body subdued to one delicate vibration.

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