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.
La historia
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.
El gran final
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.
Dónde verlo
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.
Reserva con total confianza
Encuentra una entrada para la danza Barong y Kris en tus fechas
Todas las opciones que aparecen a continuación se pueden reservar a través de GetYourGuide, con disponibilidad en tiempo real y el precio final mostrado en tu propia moneda antes de pagar.
Planifica el resto del día
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
Preguntas sobre la danza Barong
¿Qué es la danza Barong, en una frase?
Es una representación ritual diaria del hinduismo balinés que se escenifica en el patio de un templo —la más famosa en Pura Puseh Batubulan, cerca de Ubud— donde un espíritu guardián benévolo con forma de león (Barong) se enfrenta a una bruja demoníaca (Rangda), culminando con bailarines en trance que presionan dagas kris contra su propio pecho sin sufrir daño.
¿Es lo mismo que la danza del fuego Kecak en Uluwatu?
No — son dos espectáculos distintos. El Barong es una función diurna, normalmente a media mañana, en Batubulan, con orquesta de gamelán completa y una trama de Barong contra Rangda. El Kecak es un espectáculo al atardecer o por la noche en el templo del acantilado de Uluwatu, interpretado únicamente por un coro masculino sentado que entona "cak" sin instrumentos, narrando el Ramayana y finalizando con una secuencia de trance con fuego. Algunos itinerarios de excursiones de un día incluyen ambos el mismo día en horarios distintos — conviene comprobar cuál cubre exactamente cada oferta antes de reservar.
¿El trance del kris es peligroso o está montado?
Allí se trata como un auténtico estado de trance ritual, no como un truco guionizado — se cree que los bailarines están bajo la maldición de Rangda y protegidos del daño por el poder de Barong, y un asistente del templo permanece cerca durante toda la actuación para intervenir y reanimar a cada bailarín con agua bendita al final. Sea cual sea tu opinión sobre la creencia, las dagas y el trance son reales; los artistas a veces han sufrido marcas leves, lo que explica por qué los propios intérpretes se toman muy en serio la protección y supervisión rituales.
¿Cuánto dura el espectáculo y tiene descanso?
La mayoría de las funciones duran entre 60 y 90 minutos sin descanso, desarrollándose de forma continua desde la apertura juguetona del Barong, pasando por la entrada de Rangda, hasta el final del trance del kris.
¿A qué hora empieza el espectáculo y con cuánta antelación debo reservar?
La función de Batubulan tiene un horario fijo de media mañana la mayoría de los días del año — es una cita diaria, no un evento ocasional, por lo que rara vez se agota por completo. El principal riesgo de planificación no es la disponibilidad, sino el tráfico y los horarios: reserva el día anterior si quieres que te recojan en el hotel, y calcula tiempo extra de viaje desde el centro de Ubud.
¿Necesito vestirme de forma especial o cubrirme? Es un templo de verdad.
Es apropiado llevar ropa modesta y respetuosa, ya que la actuación tiene lugar en un templo activo — cubrir hombros y rodillas es la opción segura por defecto, similar a visitar cualquier templo balinés en funcionamiento. La ropa de viaje informal elegante está bien; el bañador o la ropa muy reveladora desentona y no es adecuada para el entorno.
¿Puedo hacer fotos y grabar vídeo durante la actuación, incluida la parte del trance?
En general, sí: la mayoría de los recintos, incluido Batubulan, permiten tomar fotos y grabar durante toda la función, incluso durante la secuencia del trance con kris, ya que se trata de una representación pública y no de una ceremonia privada. Se recomienda no usar flash cerca de los bailarines durante el trance; consulte las normas específicas del lugar al llegar.
¿El precio de la entrada incluye transporte o recogida en el hotel?
No siempre: en la mayoría de las ofertas, la entrada básica solo cubre el acceso, mientras que la recogida y el regreso al hotel se venden como un complemento aparte. Un número reducido de asientos preferentes en primera fila también tiene un precio independiente. Antes de asumir que el transporte está incluido, revise los detalles específicos de la opción que elija.
¿El precio que se muestra es el final y cómo funciona la reserva?
La reserva se realiza a través de GetYourGuide, que muestra el precio final en su moneda local antes del pago e indica claramente la política de cancelación para su fecha concreta. El precio que ve es el que paga, sin cargos ocultos al finalizar la compra. Somos una guía independiente de los espectáculos de danza diarios de Bali, no el templo, la compañía ni la taquilla; la reserva se gestiona mediante el sistema seguro de pago de GetYourGuide.
¿Es Batubulan el único lugar para ver la danza Barong cerca de Ubud?
No: varios pueblos alrededor de Ubud y Denpasar ofrecen sus propias representaciones diarias de Barong y Kris con un horario matutino similar. Algunos tours de un día combinan el espectáculo del Barong con otras paradas, como los arrozales de Tegallalang, Goa Gajah o una plantación de café. La versión de Batubulan en Pura Puseh Batubulan es una de las más longevas para visitantes, con orígenes en la década de 1930, razón por la cual la mayoría de las ofertas la incluyen por defecto.
¿Todavía no decides qué mañana ir?
Déjanos tu correo electrónico y aproximadamente cuándo visitarás Ubud: te enviaremos un breve resumen de los horarios de los espectáculos y cómo encajar uno en tu mañana.