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DANCE THE KEBIYAR Individualism is not encouraged in the essentially communal Balinese society, but from time to time the genius of an artist breaks through the conventional mould and emerges as a powerful personal influence. Some years ago a young man of humble birth startled South Ball with a new dance which combined the rugged manliness of the heroic dances (baris) with the delicacy of the Iegong. Its novelty consisted in the fact that the dancer never raised himself from the ground, moving only from the waist up, giving greater emphasis to the movements of the torso, arms, and hands and focusing attention on the dancer's facial expression. In using his body like a sensitive musical instrument, the young dancer interpreted even the most delicate moods of the island's finest orchestra, the gong Pangkung of Tabanan. Eventually he joined the gong Belaluan, and his fame spread to the foreign visitors on the island. The name of 1\-lario became as well known to the world traveller as that of Mei Lan-Fang, Shan Kar, or Escudero. At the regular weekly concerts of the Belaluan gong given at the hotel, Mario sat cross-legged in the centre of a square formed by the instruments of the orchestra. He was dressed in a long piece of brocade wrapped around his waist like a skirt, with one end trailing on the ground, and a sash of gilt cloth bound his torso. Jasmine and tjempaka flowers were stuck in his small turban, and over his left ear he wore a trembling great hibiscus hammered gold mounted on springs. In his right hand he held a brocade fan. He sat there motionless, in concentrated intensity, until at a signal from the drummers the orchestra struck a sudden crashing chord. Mario straightened like a startled cobra, tense and nervous, holding the fan over his head as if to shade his eyes. The opening theme was fast and furious, And Mario began to dance, waving his fan energetically, darting glances from side to side as if at an imaginary enemy. The tempo increased to a frantic climax, broken suddenly by a melodious solo on the reyong. Mario relaxed and danced delicately, his expression softened, and his movements became languid.
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