Festival with Jimat

A week and a half ago (I know I do not get to internet fast enough, sorry!) Jimat took Galu (a Javanese dancer) and myself to see him perform at a ceremony. We packed into his old jeep and battled the huge rainstorm on our way to a village near Ubud. First, we arrived at Santu's house. Santu is a young philosophical man who has been studying dance with Jimat since age five. It is his temple that Jimat and him will perform some Topeng masks dances this night.
Santu kindly greeted us with umbrellas, tea and cookies as we stalled at his house. The ceremony was of course starting late. It is half past eight when we arrive at the temple, carrying our baskets of masks and costumes to the stage. We are given tea and snacks (always there is some kind of snack given at ceremonies - usually rice with sugar, banana, coconut something..."don't ask, just makan/eat!" I am told). Then we prayed and watched the perfomance.
Really, the highlight of the evening, was the after-party - dinner with Santu's whole family. His wife prepared rice with chicken, tempeh, nuts and samblah (hot chili sauce- soo good!). We washed our hands and served ourselves rice and sides and ate with hands. To serve chicken was a huge deal for Santu and he insisted I have some, so I agreed. Must admit though that the vegetarian in me really no longer has any taste for chicken, but the offering I loved. The whole family sat patiently ensuring I had a huge plate to eat before they touched a piece of food themselves, generosity might be an understatement. I devoured the whole offering with my right hand, bit by bit, lick by lick.
Santu hopes to travel to the west to teach Philosophy. He is very passionate about the Balinese version of Hinduism. To him, this religion is broken down into two parts- meditation for yourself and dances and ceremonies for how you relate to others and celebrate life. His faith, according to him, can be summoned up into the phrase, "letting go." His whole family was quite curious about me and America, yoga and spirituality in the West. I left his gracious family feeling restored and comforted. Jimat kindly drove me home to Purnati (was still there at the time) well past midnight to rest before dance class with him the next morning! Great night! -a

Onwards...

The temple at Purnati

Over the past two weeks, I have been studying dance with Djimat and Secar, Balinese dance masters and choreographing at Purnati. I have been taking class for four hours a day! It has been exciting and exhausting! Tomorrow, I will leave Bali Purnati, to leave with Djimat and his family in Batuan. This will allow me to watch rehearsals and make a collaborative dance piece with his son’s contemporary dance company! Very exciting indeed and also an excellent opportunity to live like a typical Balinese woman. Starting tomorrow no hot showers or air conditioning! I will miss Purnati and the swimming pool, but I am excited to be more integrated with the Balinese culture! Onwards….

Purnati Pavillion

Barong & Randga, The Dance of Balance!

Photo of Dwi and her son Gadek

At Purnati, I have a very sweet friendship with Kadek (second born) Dwi and her son, Gadek. We drove to Ubud and watched Barong dance the other night! It is my favorite Balinese tourist dance. It tells the story of an unhappy and evil, widow, who takes the form of Rangda – the evil spirit. The priests and townspeople assemble to defeat her with the help of Barong- a half lion, half bear beast who represents the good spirit. He defeats the widow but Randga is not killed, nor is her defeat shown on stage. This is for two reasons, one, to not upset Rangda and secondly, because the Balinese believe that a happy ending is not when good defeats evil but rather when the two find a happy balance! Hmm… sounds realistic to me.

Below is a picture of Barong:

A Dance of Feeling

Photo of dance piece I made in Chicago at Temple Gallery, Fall 2010.

In Bali, Theater and Dance are not two separate art forms. A dancer sings, talks, mimes and most importantly, feels. Emotion is a main and necessary ingredient. Very often, my dance friends here will ask me, “do you feel it?”
After dance class with Djimat, my friend Yuda drove me on motorbike back to Purnati, the sight of my Artist Residency. I showed him the theater here and then some pieces of contemporary dance choreography. He was very interested and yet, like a typical Balinese, very honest. He wanted to know why there is no feeling in contemporary dance. Of course, this is his opinion based upon limited you-tube videos, etc.. But nonetheless, it really is interesting to me how much Balinese dance and dancers value strong facial expressions and theatrically. If you know my dancing, you would know this suits me a lot. I am really enjoying being able to join my two passions of theatre and dance here and learn new ways to explore this connection.
A piece of a poem from a Balinese artist and poet, Kang Manhang:

I feel God’s face through dancing
Dancing is the gateless gate to
The divine
ThroughtDance one of the deepest
Meditations is possible
Whenever there is no ego and the
Dance
Is pure then you invite God as an
Audience
Dance is the most complete act on earth

Acting as a watcher
Moving as a Dancer
Dancing as a meditator.

Legong Dance

Kebyar Dancer

Legong Dance originates from the Balinese courts. This dance tells of the story of a prince who wants a princess who already has a love. He stills pursues her, only to die in battle fighting for her. My favorite part of this piece is actually the prelude dance called Kebyar Duduk or Taruna Jaya. This contemporary dance from North Bali depicts the feelings and undertakings of adolescence of a young boy (but it is danced by a woman). The fast, precise movement shows such strength and energy and yet there is a sense of anxiety, fear and anticipation in the movement that comes with being young and beginning one’s life journey.

A new meaning to 420, the Balinese Calendar

(Above) Batuan Temple

Before watching the temple dancing last half moon, I walked around the local temple in Batuan. Jiwa explained to me about the Balinese calendar which has 420 days in the year, and each Balinese celebrates their birthday every 120 days, so twice a year with a ceremony. Hmm, that sounds like a good idea. Not sure how that all adds up, but I like it….

Batuan Temple Ceremony

(Above) The front line of dancers at the ceremony.

This is a ceremony at the local temple in Batuan (small town outside of Ubud). It is a local ceremony in which all attendees must wear proper clothing and it is performed whenever the town can collect enough cakes to serves. The cakes are white rice with coconut on top and quite good. Jiwa, a friend of mine, took me to his house and his wife dressed me to attend. I had to make sure I had no female problems (no period) and that I washed my hair.
The ceremony dance for this event was not too formal. The women lined up and walked from one end of the temple to the other. Upon completion of their very slow and concentrated walk, they received two cakes to eat! It took about two hours or so. At the end of line of women, anyone is welcome to join in and follow along.
There are women and young children sitting around to watch and the men hung around the edges of the temple smoking. In Bali, men smoke, women don’t (at least not in public). The dance felt sweet, gentle, slow and majestic. Just a simple walk had so many details, it really is marvelous.

(Above) Sita walking towards the infamous healing old man.

As is so happened, my airport ride and I miscommunicated (I arrived at midnight, making it the 10th but Balinese still consider this the 9th) so no one showed up to get me I arrived in Bali. But the man sitting next me on my flight (a trader in Bali) actually predicted as much before I even arrived in Bali and he had me travel with him back to Ubud!
And as fate would have it, our driver was a Kecak dancer. So, this is how I ended up seeing Kecak dance my first night in Bali.
Kecak Dance is performed twice a week in Bali for tourists of course, along with Fire or Trance Dance (dance in which a man with a fake horse on this back walks across coconuts on fire! It's absolutely ridiculous!) These Bali tourist dances such as Kecak, Legong, Barong, to name a few, are not like the ceremony dances that Balinese attend, they are shorter and made for a foreigner. However, they still worth seeing for they display artistic talent and cutural history.
In any case, Kecak is unique because there is no gamelan orchestra accompanying it. Instead, a troupe of over 150 bare-chested men serve as the chorus, making synchronized "chak-achak-achak" or "shi, shi, shei" or "OM" clicking sounds while swaying their bodies and waving their hands.
Taken from the Hindu epic Ramayana, the dance tells the story of Prince Rama and his rescue of Princess Sita, who has been kidnapped by the evil King of Lanka.
I could not help being impressed by how well story is portrayed through simple sounds and gestures. It is also quite funny and male chorus really enjoys themselves. One man in particular was so cute, he smiled the entire performance!

Bali, Yes Yes Yes

Photo of me at Lincoln Park Conservatory before leaving Chicago for Bali.

As I dance between excitement and utter shock at my being able to be head to Bali for two months, I feel a little undeserving. Should one really be this nice to oneself? Then and I stumbled across this poem…
God says yes to me
By Kaylin Haught
I asked God if it was okay to be melodramatic
And she yes
I asked her if it was okay to be short
Or not wear nail polish
And she said honey
She calls me that sometimes
She said you can do just exactly
What you want to
Thanks God I said
And is it even okay if I don’t paragraph
My letters
Sweetcakes God said
Who knows where she picked that up
What I’m telling you is
Yes Yes Yes