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.