From 10 to 14 October 2008, the Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC) is again holding the annual Nusa Dua Fiesta at the Peninsula, Nusa Dua, Bali, the same venue that hosted the Climate Change conference in December 2007, which was attended by thousands of delegates from around the world.

Following up on the Climate Change conference, and as a reminder that the tourism industry depends greatly on a clean environment to enable economic growth, the theme for this year’s Fiesta is “Green Tourism”.

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On June 28th, at 10.00 in the morning Art Center was filled with visitors. Men-women, young-old, and native-foreigners seemed never want to blink their eyes as if they did not want to miss a thing from this show. They were hypnotized. Wherever the show went then those people would follow it as if they were the part of this show.

Bali Art Festival does not just present Balinese handmade goods or Balinese culinary heritage but also performances that begin to be neglected. One of them is Nglawang. This show had been presented twice to re-popularize it to the people, especially to the Balinese children.

Nglawang actually is a Balinese tradition aiming to ward a village from disasters. This tradition is similar to Pangrebongan which is held in Kesiman village (see the article). Nglawang is usually held after Kuningan day in several villages in Bali but it becomes rare ritual to be held in the town nowadays.

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Many people agree that Bali has interesting culture and art. They love to see all the art and cultural products from the fine arts to the dance and from shadow puppet to traditional drama performance. Its ceremonies are always adored by local and foreign tourists alike. Besides, its friendly people draw lot of visitors from various countries and areas.

However, Bali nowadays has changed because of globalization and penetration of other cultures. Balinese tend to be individual and the area that actually should be utilized for agricultural activities is narrowed. Many other changes have occurred. Then some people who care and want to preserve Balinese cultural heritage held a congress, named Balinese Cultural Congress I at ISI (Indonesian Art Institute) Denpasar.

On June 14-16, 2008, many local and international experts and people who have great concern for Balinese culture were invited to this congress. This congress, which was opened by Cultural and Tourism Minister, assembled representatives from UNESCO and other countries like: UK, Australia, India, and Japan. In addition, Balinese artists, press, scientists, expert in Balinese architecture, Balinese legislatives, and many more attended this congress that was held as a part of Bali Art Festival 2008. They shared their ideas together to find a preventive action so that Balinese do not lose their identity.

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It is rather difficult to trace the origin of Janger. No place in Bali admits to having been responsible for the first janger. The north Bali says it came from south, the south attributed to north. If Bali makes Lombok responsible, Lombok says it learnt from Bali. Some expert said that the janger is derived from Sanghyang dance. The female and male choirs were taken away from Sanghyang Dedari and formed new composition. Some said that janger originated from the song of girls, who picked coffee beans from the trees in North Bali. When they were sitting together during their break in the work, they began to sing together, joined by a few boys and it developed into janger. Other said it was the Balinese answer for Sumatran Rampak Sembilan dance.

Janger dance performance on The Annual Bali Arts Festival 1996

The popularity of this art performance reached its peak in 1960s, when nearly every village and every school in Bali has its own janger group. In that time becoming a successful janger dancer was the dream of every youth. They hummed the janger song all day long, accompanying all their activities.

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According to Covarrubias no dance in the world can be manlier than baris. Baris, a traditional war dance, typifies the strong elegance of the male and is the source of for all masculine dances. The Baris dance can be performed by men in pairs of four, eight, sometimes even tens; the accompanying gamelan is the gamelan gong or gamelan gong kebyar. The word “baris” means a line or military formation, in the sense of a line of soldiers, and referred to the warriors who fought for the kings of Bali. Originally, Baris was performed as a religious ritual. The dancer may bear a kris, a spear, a bow, or other weapons, depending on the variant performed. Baris has an exorcizing character and is invariably danced at important temple ceremony. The special characteristics of baris are its elegance moves and complex facial expressions. The movement of baris is synchronized with the tempo of the music and Baris‘s facial expressions show the varieties of soldier mood such as admiration, wonder, surprise, rage, pleasure, tenderness and love.

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