Why do priests dance at temple ceremonies and what is that dance?

At Balinese temple ceremonies, there are a lot of different rituals that serve different functions. To entertain the gods, there is always gamelan music and dance. Some of these dances are choreographed, but others are in an improvised form. These freely interpreted dances are called pendet, and to perform these dances is called memendet (to do the pendet) in Balinese. This dance is performed in the inner sanctum (jeroan) of the temple.

Apart from a ritual dance (wali) offering, the pendet is an effort to invite the gods to Earth (tedun) to be part of the ceremony. If successful, a few or some of those dancing will go into trance and become a medium for the voice of the gods. Important information, normally about rituals concerning that particular temple, may be revealed. This could include demands for certain offerings or expressions of discontent about something that has been happening in the temple.

The pendet is very heartfelt and natural; many observers describe it as magical and profoundly beautiful. It is normally danced by priests (of all ages), women, girls and men, but anyone who wishes to can memendet. Priests carry different religious paraphernalia whilst dancing, including clay pots of holy water, spears, smoking coconut husks, incense and even eggs, as well as offerings.

Depending on the custom and the will of the gods, the dance may be repeated many times, with different musical accompaniment. The compositions are repetitive and suited to dance and inducing trance. Historically, pendet was accompanied by a gamelan semara pagulingan orchestra, but these days other types of gamelan ensembles such as gong kebyar and semarandhana are used.

The more modern pendet dance that is performed for tourists and other secular occasions was inspired by these ritual motions. This is normally performed by anything between two and eight dancers, depending on the local custom and availability of dancers, and is highly stylised.