Royal Topeng

I Made Bandem, the greatest Balinese dancer of his generation, performs the dance of a king. He wears a mask gifted to his father by the rajah of Bangli, who created it in the ancient style. Topeng (mask) dances have existed in Bali and Java since the ninth century. The epic fourteenth century poem Nagarakertagama describes the ruler of Majapahit, Java’s greatest empire, as a dancer of Topeng, with a golden mask. The masked king never speaks, instead his stories are told by dancing courtiers.