Bali Mothers Dancing Rejang Renteng

The dance by the mothers is called the Renjang Renteng dance, one of rejang dances which is classified as a Balinese sacred dance. Usually, it is staged in a series of dewa yadnya ceremonies such as piodalan or temple festival. This dance is thought to have existed around 1930, but its choreographer is unknown. This dance was then developed by the Cultural Service of the Province of Bali in 1999 by taking inspiration from the Beautifyue Renteng dance in Banjar Adat Saren, Mujaning Tembeling Village, Nusa Gede. In general, the Rejang Dance symbolizes a group of angels who came down to earth to welcome and guide Ida Bhatara (deities) at the self-purification ceremony in the yadnya ceremony held.
The movement of mendet or welcoming is the initial movement of the Rejang Renteng dance, and this is repeated. They dance facing the direction of the shrines, where the gods descend to earth. This dance movement resembles a straight back floor pattern with an odd number of rejang dancers. After that, they turn in a circle with simple movements that are repeated again and again until the last one goes to the outer courtyard of the temple.
The music is provided by the village Gamelan, the indigenous orchestra type of Bali, consisting largely of several varieties of gongs and various sets of tuned metal instruments that are struck with mallets. The gongs are either suspended vertically or, as with the knobbed-center, kettle-shaped gongs of the bonang, placed flat. Percussive melodic instruments include the bonang, the xylophone (gambang kayu), and various metallophones (instruments with a series of tuned metal plates, either suspended over a resonance trough or on resonance tubes). A sustained melody is played either by the bamboo flute (suling) or by a bowed stringed instrument (rebab).