Abstrak
This research and community engagement investigates an ancient Balinese ritual known as Sang Hyang Dedari. Thedance is interrelated to an agricultural aspect of the traditional Balinese living. As the Balinese struggle tomaintain their values from the constant threat of modernization andindustrialization, this dance reveals the powerful impact of creating anawareness of socio ecological equilibrium. The effort made by the villagers ofGeriana Kauh, Karangasem, displays how local community rebuilds its environmentbased on their traditional ecological value. Analyzing Sang Hyang Dedaridance through phenomenological approach, thus, it can be discovered how theritual sustains the social relations. The bodies of the dancers are the centerof an elaborate nexus between people, nature and god. To understand how thedualism of sacred and profane bodies, this research utilizes the body theory byMaurice Merleau-Ponty. The importance of phenomenology as a theory relates tothe understanding on how the ritual works as an event in its totality.Understanding the unity between the presence of the divine, nature and human.The output of this research and community engagement is a museum built incooperation between University of Indonesia with the villagers of Geriana Kauh,Karangasem. As the performance and knowledge about Sang Hyang Dedari appearedto be scarce, this museum is a form of collaboration to retrace the history ofSang Hyang Dedari ritual, in an attempt to conserve the ancient knowledge.