The mask that guards the village
A protector, not a monster
Barong is usually described to first-time visitors as "a lion," which is close enough to picture but misses the point. He's a benevolent protective spirit who takes animal form — most often the shaggy, gold-fanged Barong Ket seen at Batubulan, though Balinese villages also keep boar, tiger and elephant versions for other ceremonies. Each village's Barong mask is considered sacred, ritually cared for by its own custodians, and brought out for temple ceremonies as much as for paying audiences. What you're watching at the morning show is a genuine ritual object, worn by a trained dancer, not a costume built for tourists.
Why this happens in a temple courtyard, every day
The dance is staged inside or beside a village temple — at Batubulan, that's Pura Puseh Batubulan — because the story it tells isn't folklore, it's an active piece of Balinese Hindu cosmology: the ongoing, never-finally-won balance between protective and destructive forces. Villages perform it partly for income from visitors and partly because doing so is itself considered a form of spiritual maintenance. That's also why the show runs on a fixed daily schedule rather than being staged as a one-off spectacle — it's closer to a temple keeping its doors open than a theatre running a limited season.
Historien
Barong and Rangda: a fight neither side wins
The performance dramatises a single, specific conflict from Balinese belief — not a generic "good vs evil" fable, but a named rivalry between two figures who represent forces the Balinese consider permanently, deliberately unresolved.
The widow-witch
Rangda
Rangda is a demon queen with a mask of bulging eyes, a lolling tongue and long fangs, trailing white hair and pendulous breasts — the visual opposite of Barong's warmth. She represents adharma: chaotic, destructive power, and in some tellings is linked to Calon Arang, a widow-sorceress from Balinese legend who terrorised a kingdom with black magic. Her entrance is the moment the tone of the show flips from playful to genuinely unsettling.
Crucially, neither side wins outright. Barong and Rangda fight to a magical standstill — her curses countered by his protective power — and the performance ends not with a victory but with a truce, because in Balinese belief dharma and adharma aren't meant to cancel each other out; they're meant to stay in tension, permanently. That refusal to give the story a tidy ending is one of the more genuinely thought-provoking things about watching it as an outsider.
Finalen
The moment the dancers turn their blades inward
What actually happens
As the standoff between Barong and Rangda reaches its peak, a group of men — Rangda's followers, under her curse — draw kris daggers and, one by one, fall into a trance state and turn the blades against their own chests. Performed correctly, the points don't break the skin; local belief holds that Barong's protective power is what keeps the dancers safe, and the trance itself is treated as a genuine altered state, not stagecraft. A pemangku (temple priest) or a designated attendant stays close throughout, ready to intervene, sprinkle holy water and bring each dancer back to ordinary awareness.
Why it's the part people remember
It's staged close to the audience, unamplified, with the gamelan orchestra driving the tension rather than any theatrical lighting or sound effects — which is part of why it lands harder than the description suggests. It's also the single most-asked-about part of the show beforehand and the part most worth knowing the context for going in: this isn't a simulated stunt built for a tour bus schedule, it's the culmination of a ritual the village would be performing on some level even without an audience.
Photography during this part
Most venues allow photography and video throughout the performance, including the trance sequence — unlike some other Balinese ceremonies, this is treated as public performance rather than a closed ritual. Flash is generally discouraged that close to the dancers; check the specific venue's house rules on arrival if you're unsure.
Hvor du kan se den
Seeing it at Pura Puseh Batubulan
The venue
Batubulan, a village on the southern edge of Ubud known for its stone-carving workshops, has staged the Barong and Kris dance for visitors since the 1930s — one of the longest-running versions of the show on the island — performed in the open-air stage of Pura Puseh Batubulan, the village's origin temple. The setting is a real, still-active temple compound rather than a purpose-built theatre, which is part of why the atmosphere feels closer to a ceremony you're being allowed to watch than a show staged around you.
How the morning slot actually works
The show runs on a single fixed morning start most days of the year, with the gates and box office opening shortly beforehand for walk-up tickets and pre-booked collection. Because it's a daily fixture rather than an occasional event, the practical planning question isn't "will there be a show" — there almost always is — it's "can I get there on time," since traffic into Batubulan from central Ubud can be slower than the short map distance suggests, especially close to the start time.
Seating and what's included
Seating is typically open bench-style around the courtyard stage on a basic ticket, with a small number of upgraded front-row seats sold separately on some listings; hotel pickup and drop-off is usually a separate paid add-on rather than bundled into the ticket price, so check the specific inclusions on your chosen listing before assuming a driver is covered.
Book med tryghed
Find en billet til Barong & Kris-dans til dine datoer
Alle nedenstående muligheder kan bookes via GetYourGuide med live tilgængelighed, og den endelige pris vises i din egen valuta, før du betaler.
Planlæg resten af dagen
Fitting the dance into an Ubud day
Because the show runs once, mid-morning, it slots naturally into one side of a full day out rather than needing its own dedicated trip — most visitors pair it with either the rice terraces to the north or Ubud's temples and markets to the east.
- Early morning
Arrive at Batubulan
Aim to reach Pura Puseh Batubulan with time to collect tickets and find a seat before the gamelan starts — arriving right at start time risks a bench at the back of the courtyard.
- Mid-morning
The performance
Around an hour of Barong, Rangda and the kris trance finale, ending in time to still make a full day of it.
- Midday
North to Tegallalang or Jatiluwih
The Tegallalang rice terraces are the closer, busier option; Jatiluwih is further but far less crowded, if you'd rather trade travel time for space to actually look at the view.
- Afternoon
East to central Ubud
Ubud Palace, the Ubud Art Market and the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary are all walkable from each other in central Ubud, and pair naturally with an early lunch after the show if you'd rather stay closer to town instead.
GEO/FAQ
Spørgsmål om Barong-dans
Hvad er Barong-dansen, i én sætning?
Det er en daglig balinesisk hinduistisk ritualforestilling, der opføres på en tempelgård — mest berømt ved Pura Puseh Batubulan nær Ubud — hvor en velvillig løvelignende skytsånd (Barong) konfronterer en dæmonheks (Rangda), og som slutter med, at trancebesatte dansere presser kris-dolke mod deres eget bryst uden at komme til skade.
Er det det samme som Kecak-ilddansen ved Uluwatu?
Nej — det er to forskellige forestillinger. Barong er et dagshow, typisk midt på formiddagen, i Batubulan, med et fuldt gamelanorkester og en historie om Barong mod Rangda. Kecak er et aften- eller solnedgangsshow ved Uluwatu-klintemplet, udført udelukkende af et siddende mandskor, der synger "cak" uden instrumenter, og som genfortæller Ramayana og slutter med en ildtrance-sekvens. Nogle dagstursprogrammer inkluderer begge på samme dag på forskellige tidspunkter — det kan betale sig at tjekke, hvilken en en given pakke faktisk dækker, før du booker.
Er kris-trancen farlig, eller er den iscenesat?
Den behandles lokalt som en ægte ritualtrance, ikke et manuskriptstunt — danserne menes at være under Rangdas forbandelse og beskyttet mod skade af Barongs kraft, og en tempelbetjent holder sig tæt på under hele forløbet for at gribe ind og genoplive hver danser med helligt vand bagefter. Uanset hvad du mener om selve troen, er dolke og trance ægte; udøverne er lejlighedsvis blevet let mærket, hvilket er en del af grunden til, at den rituelle beskyttelse og overvågning tages alvorligt af udøverne selv.
Hvor længe varer showet, og er der pause?
De fleste forestillinger varer omkring 60–90 minutter uden pause, og de bygger kontinuerligt op fra Barongs legende åbning gennem Rangdas indtræden til kris-trance-finalen.
Hvornår starter showet, og hvor lang tid i forvejen skal jeg booke?
Batubulans show kører med et fast formiddagsstarttidspunkt de fleste dage om året — det er en daglig begivenhed snarere end en lejlighedsvis forestilling, så det bliver meget sjældent udsolgt. Den største planlægningsrisiko er ikke tilgængelighed, men trafik og timing: book dagen før, hvis du vil have hotelafhentning inkluderet, og indregn ekstra rejsetid fra det centrale Ubud.
Skal jeg klæde mig pænt på eller dække til? Det er et rigtigt tempel.
Anstændig og respektfuld påklædning er på sin plads, da forestillingen foregår på aktiv tempelgrund — skuldre og knæ rimeligt dækket er den sikre standard, ligesom ved besøg i ethvert fungerende balinesisk tempel. Smart-casual rejsetøj er fint; badetøj eller meget afslørende tøj skiller sig ud og er ikke passende for omgivelserne.
Må jeg tage billeder og video under forestillingen, også under trancedelen?
Generelt set – ja, de fleste spillesteder, herunder Batubulan, tillader fotografering og filmoptagelse under hele forestillingen, inklusive kris-trancescenen, da det er en offentlig opførelse og ikke en lukket ceremoni. Brug af blitz tæt på danserne under trancen frarådes som regel; tjek de specifikke husregler ved ankomst.
Er transport eller hotelafhentning inkluderet i billetprisen?
Ikke altid – på de fleste opslag dækker basisbilletten kun entré, mens hotelafhentning og -aflevering sælges som et separat tillæg, og et mindre antal opgraderede pladser på forreste række prissættes også særskilt. Tjek de specifikke inkluderinger på dit valgte opslag, før du antager, at en chauffør er dækket.
Er prisen vist endelig, og hvordan fungerer bookingen?
Du booker via GetYourGuide, som viser den endelige pris i din egen valuta, før du betaler, og oplyser annulleringspolitikken for din specifikke dato på forhånd – den pris, du ser, er den pris, du betaler, uden skjulte gebyrer ved kassen. Vi er en uafhængig guide til Balis daglige danseforestillinger, ikke templet, truppen eller billetkontoret; selve bookingen håndteres via GetYourGuides sikre betalingssystem.
Er Batubulan det eneste sted at se en Barong-dans nær Ubud?
Nej – flere landsbyer omkring Ubud og Denpasar opfører deres egne daglige Barong- og Kris-forestillinger på et lignende morgenskema, og nogle dagsture kombinerer et Barong-show med andre stop som Tegallalang-risterrasserne, Goa Gajah eller en kaffeplantage. Batubulans version ved Pura Puseh Batubulan er en af de længst kørende for besøgende, helt tilbage fra 1930'erne, hvilket er grunden til, at de fleste opslag som standard vælger den.
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