Kecak

Kecak is a Balinese vocal and dance drama in which a chorus of fifty to one hundred and fifty men, seated in concentric circles, chants interlocking 'cak' syllables to enact episodes from the Ramayana. Created in the 1930s by dancer *I Wayan Limbak* and painter Walter Spies, who adapted the chorus of the sanghyang trance ritual into a staged spectacle, kecak is performed without instruments: the massed voices supply pulse, texture and dramatic commentary while costumed dancers mime the story of Rama, Sita and the monkey army of Hanuman at the circle's centre.