Pendet is a traditional Balinese dance, in which offerings are made to purify the temple or theater as a prelude to ceremonies or other dances. Pendet is typically performed by young girls, carrying bowls of flower petals, handfuls of which are cast into the air at various times in the dance. Pendet can be thought of as a dance of greeting, to welcome the audience and invite spirits to enjoy a performance.The original Pendet dance is performed by 4-5 young girls (before their puberty) in temple yards. Pendet dancers bring flowers in small Bokor (silver bowls for keeping flowers in a ceremony). They spread the flowers around the temple. This dance is a symbol of welcoming God in some ritual ceremonies in Bali. Pendet actually has simple dance movements. These movements are the basic dance movements of Balinese dance. Pendet has undergone later development with variations and now is not only performed in ritual ceremonies but also in some social events. Pendet since has been known as a welcoming dance.
Pendet are welcoming dences expressing of joy, happiness and gratitude made through graceful and elegant movements. Depending on the choreography, they mey be performed by a pair or a group of female dancers of any age. In the past those dences were temple dances to great or please the gods and deities residing in the temple for the duration of the temple's anniversary festival, the odalan. Today, they are staged purely as artistic entertainment.
The choreography of both includes three main parts :
1. a brief introduction - a papeson, with fast music,
2. a slow-moving body- the pangadeng,
3. a fast ending - the panyuwud.
The traditional pendet may be performed by ten to thirty dancers, in pairs or in groups of four or six, while each dancer carries offerings which are later placed on the altar in front or at the foot of a temple shrine. The secular versions can be performed by four or six dancers each carrying a bowl of colourful flowers which they scatter the flowers over the audience to symbolize a warm welcome.
