In Bali the spiritual world is mapped onto the physical landscape of the island, connecting specific emotional reactions to places based on spiritual understandings about them that begin at a very early age. One of the ways in which children learn about their world and how to perceive and react to their island is through theatrical performance. In this chapter I describe how children express this connection to the landscape through the performance of Barong (a traditional dance performance that depicts a mythical, masked creature). The performance embodies a complex interrelationship among emotions associated with the Balinese spirit world, their physical surroundings, and their gendered participation in Balinese society (map 2.1).

The term “Barong” generally refers to a male deity within the Bali-Hindu religion, represented as a mythical beast animated by two male dancers. Barong has three manifestations: a mask, a creature, and a dance. The formidable mask represents an animal, and the dancers perform inside a shell covered with various layers of fur and cloth that forms his elongated body. Every 210 days, during the Balinese New Year celebrations (Galungan and Kuningan), two dancers who make up the four-legged Barong perform in villages. Accompanied by a troupe of musicians performing in a gamelan ensemble, Barong roams the streets until he is invited by someone to dance outside their house or business to ward off evil spirits at this auspicious time of the new year.