2/19 Homelands: Bali
Homelands: Bali
Traditional and contemporary Balinese dance and theater.
Warmup
Sildet
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Maps of Bali
History of Indonesia
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Traditions of Balinese Dance & Cultural Practice
Balinese Royal Wedding
Barong Dance
Question: What actions are performed in the Barong dance to animate the character and tell a story?
Gamelan Çudamani
Questions: What are some differences in the male and female dance styles that you see, particularly as performed by Gamelan Çudamani?
Pak Nyoman Cerita - Jauk Manis
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Modern History: Civil War & Genocide
Dark Side of Paradise
Bite-Sized Bali (Brachey 2020)
“Although the events of 1965 have shaped Bali, marks of the genocide are absent in its landscapes and monuments. Statues and museums commemorate the sites of the puputans—the act of mass ritual suicide in the face of an unwinnable battle—against Dutch colonial forces, and a monument marks the 2002 Bali Bombings in Kuta. Sites of importance in the 1965 Genocide remain unmarked. Even the mass graves of those killed in 1965 are unmarked and often located under new buildings. According to Agung, unmarked, mass graves are especially problematic in Bali, because the deceased cannot be excavated from the grave to be cremated according to Balinese customs.
In contrast, memorials to the Badung and Klungklung puputans were officially opened by the New Order government in the late 1970s and early 80s, as stories of the puputans became a widespread part of Bali’s collective memory and historical literature. The puputans were “important symbol(s) of the nationalist struggle against colonial oppression,” while the killings occurring under Suharto’s regime were ignored and unrecorded (Creese 2006). The New Order decision to shift public attention to acts of external, colonial violence against the Balinese was a clear strategic effort to obscure the violence that had occurred between Balinese under the New Order.
The 1965 Genocide also contributed to the creation of a vulnerable Bali through the production of a fear both intimate and external. Balinese speakers repeatedly communicated to our group that the murders of 1965 were committed by neighbors and friends. This personal, intimate violence left behind a legacy of distrust and fear within small communities. Sometimes this distrust and fear even occurs between friends and family members. Simultaneously, many Balinese acknowledge that perpetrators of the genocide generally killed as a result of overwhelming, collective fear of the military government. Agung posed the question: “Who wants to be a perpetrator?” Although violence was performed by neighbors, most people knew that the ultimate cause of the killings was the New Order government. The threat of violence came both from friends and from a seemingly omniscient government force which often overwhelmed Balinese citizens with anxieties and distrust.”
Question: How does violence impact local communities, including its impact on the arts and dance?
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Contemporary Practices: Culture Bearers
Gamelan Çudamani
"The
group traces its roots to the 1970’s when the children of Pengosekan — a
village well known for its community of painters, weavers, and
musicians — gathered after school to play music in the village balai
(pavilion). Over the years these independent-minded children formed a
new kind of organization that has become a pride of the village.
Tourism
has had a powerful impact on the arts in Bali — particularly so in
Ubud, the famous tourist town just north of Pengosekan. By the 1990s
most of the musicians of Ubud were playing for tourists in lieu of the
needs of the community and members were hired and fired depending on
their technical ability. The youth of Pengosekan often found themselves
working in this system — experiencing the financial benefits of tourism
while also being keenly aware of the artistic and cultural dangers of
this arrangement.
In September 1997, Director Dewa Putu Berata,
Artistic Director Dewa Ketut Alit, and others from Pengosekan called
together a number of talented and promising young people from different
areas in Bali to form Sanggar Çudamani...
...Çudamani maintains that the vitality of Balinese arts relies on the connection of performance to spiritual and social life and on the balance between strong roots and brave innovation. The group is in many ways, an activist community that responds to the philosophical, practical, and problematic issues that face Balinese artists today. The group invites master artists to Pengosekan to teach rarely performed repertoire, and members of the group also create new work. Çudamani artists are renowned for their inspired contributions to the repertoire of Balinese arts...
...Dances performed by the group include the classic legong, rare pieces in the Kebyar genre, and new choreography. Çudamani’s outstanding musicianship and dance technique add weight to the revival of classic works. In addition, their efforts demonstrate a respect for and dedication to the senior masters who are too often dismissed as outdated by the young tourist-oriented artists of Bali. The dancers’ graceful bodies mirror every musical nuance of the gamelan as they bring to life vivid tales of gods and heroes of Balinese mythology and history. Beyond mere aesthetic entertainment, Balinese arts capture and amplify the shifting dimensions of human emotion, nature, the spirit world, and the cosmos."
Legong for Mother Earth
Gamelan Çudamani
Question: What choreographic elements do you see relating to the work's title, Legong for Mother Earth?
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Dance Practice
Pendet (Offering Dance)
or
Baris Tunggal (Warrior Dance)
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