Kecak Dance
I'd seen the Kecak dance before in the excellent movie "Baraka", but that version lacked any costumed dancers or storyline (due to the constraints in the form of their film). The version we saw opened with something quite similar to the Baraka version (this isn't my video, but it's close):
After which there was a dance/story lasting about 45 minutes, with a few main dancers enacting the storyline, and the kecak chorus serving as background music, set, and sometimes props. The story is part of the Ramayana in which a demon contrives to separate Rama, his wife Sita, and his younger brother while they're out hunting, so he can steal Sita away. A number of animal friends come to the aide of Rama (there are many twists and turns in the plot here which I won't go into), and the whole thing culminates in a battle between a monkey and a demon army.
The main kecak rhythmic chant was extremly cool. It's a bunch of interlocking, staggered repetitions of the rhythm: "x x _ x x _ x _ ". Here's a circular diagram that shows the interlocking structure: http://www.healthyarts.com/kecak/8x8-kecak-C-Web.htm
Aside from that, my favorite part was definitely the costumes and movements of the monkey and the bird, which did very convincing stylized dances of their animals. Their movements conveyed the distinct impression of originating in an alien set of perceptions and interests.
Legong Dance
The Legong dance tells a different section of the epic, and, compared to the kecak dance, is more dance and less story.
Here is a video (again not mine, but the same performance) of a representative part of it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpdDDLWHhTc&feature=related
Many of the elements in the dance style I recognized from a style of south Indian dance my friend Deepa performs--in particular, the body-positions and precise hand and eye movements. I really enjoyed it, though the movements are a lot more subtle than other forms of dance I've seen. Every movement was carefully matched to one of the sounds in the accompanying gamelan, including the rapid fan waving, movements of the fingers, and eyes. Though not in the video, the dancer was also clearly flexing and positioning her toes as part of the dance as well.
The gamelan music was interesting as well. Usually (or so far as I could hear) there were three different meters happening at once, with a lot of gradual tempo changes in which either the fastest meter or slowest meter would drop out, and re-enter at double or half-time. With this ever-changing ocean of sound, the gamelan and the dancers could accentuate different tempos or rhythms from within the texture. It was definitely an enjoyable event, though a german tourist seated on my left (who looked as if his girlfriend had dragged him) wore a very offended and upset expression through the whole performance. I guess dance wasn't his thing.
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