From Ritual to Stage: The Transformation of Balinese Dance Performances and the Challenges of Cultural Preservation in the Era of Tourism and Digitalization
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59890/ijir.v4i8.242Keywords:
Balinese Dance, Ritual Performance, Cultural Transformation, Cultural Preservation, Tourism, DigitalizationAbstract
Balinese dance represents an important form of intangible cultural heritage that embodies religious values, collective identity, social memory, and artistic knowledge. However, the expansion of tourism and digitalization has transformed the contexts in which traditional dance is performed, transmitted, and consumed. This study examines the transformation of Balinese dance from ritual practice to staged and digitally mediated performance, with particular attention to the challenges of cultural preservation. Employing a qualitative descriptive approach with an interpretive perspective, the study analyzes the transformation of performance spaces, the relationship between sacredness and tourism, cultural identity, digitalization, and intergenerational transmission. The findings indicate that the movement from ritual to stage does not necessarily represent the disappearance of tradition but reflects a process of cultural negotiation and adaptation. Tourism provides opportunities for cultural visibility, artistic innovation, and economic sustainability, while simultaneously creating risks of commodification, decontextualization, and the reduction of sacred meanings. Digitalization offers new possibilities for documentation, cultural education, and wider dissemination, but digital representations cannot fully replace the embodied, social, and religious contexts of traditional performance. The study argues that sustainable preservation requires a balance between cultural continuity, artistic innovation, responsible tourism, and technological development. Cultural preservation should therefore be understood as negotiated continuity, in which cultural communities remain central in determining the meanings, boundaries, and appropriate forms of transformation. Strengthening community participation, culturally responsible tourism, contextualized digital documentation, and intergenerational education is essential for ensuring the sustainability of Balinese dance as a living cultural heritage.
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