‘Rejang Asak’

Rejang Asak is one of the Balinese wali dances to honor the Hindu gods. The uniqueness of the dance lies in the costumes.

Performances of wali dances by the daha and teruna in the village of Asak are similar to those of other traditional villages in Karangasem like Bungaya and Tenganan Pegringsingan. The three villages are located near each other along the eastern part of Bali.

In Bungaya, the daha dance is called Rejang Onggar-onggarnya, while in Asak the dance is called Rejang Asak.

The liveliest ritual festivities in Asak are during Ngusabha Kasa sometime in July. For a week the village will have its daha and teruna perform the wali dance.

The Rejang Asak dancers have two types of traditional costumes that differ in the details of the head ornaments. Payas Agung costumes use real frangipani flowers, while Payas Perong costumes have fake golden flowers.

The traditional costume covers the head, body and feet. With the Payas Agung, the lower torso is covered by tapih and kamen songket.

For the teruna, the attire is divided into three sections: the head, body and feet. The head ornaments are udeng or destar songket, while the dancers wear a kris, saput and gelang tangan on their bodies.