Oleg was first choreographed by I Ketut Marya (better known in the West as I Mario) of Tabanan, Bali, in 1952 at the request of the music presenter John Coast, who intended to take a group of Balinese dancers on tour in Europe and the United States. Though I Mario, who had previously adapted the gamelan gong kebyar style of Balinese music into the kebyar duduk dance in 1925, considered himself too old to design a dance, he acquiesced after Coast continued to pressure him.[1] I Mario, working with Coast, the dancer I Wayan Sampih, and several other musicians, ultimately drew on images of ballet to create a fusion of Western and Balinese dance styles,[1][6] while still promoting the dance as traditional. Coast's wife designed the original costumes for the dance, which was tested on Western audiences in Bali.[6] I Gusti Rasmin Raka and Sampih were the first dancers of oleg.[7]
Though initially controversial among traditionalists, as the female dancers had to raise their arms and expose their armpits to "fly",[7] oleg was absorbed into the canon of Balinese dance. Young children, many of whom had previously danced lenong, learned oleg.[4][2] In his 2013 examination of the position of modern Balinese dance, Andrew McGraw considered oleg a now-classic kebyar dance.[6] In The Rough Guide to Bali and Lombok, Lesley Reader and Lucy Ridout described oleg as "one of most vivacious, humourous, and engaging dances of the Balinese repertoire".[2]