When the gong kebyar composition first appeared in Northern Bali with the avant-garde villages such as Bungkulan, Jagaraga and villages at its vicinity in 1915, No one ever dreamed that this genre of Balinese gamelan become the most favorite kind gamelan to be played by women. As a matter of fact at that time no one would ever dreamed that Balinese women have any chance to play gamelan.

In the past, gamelan is a privilege for men and the involvement of women in the realm of art was restricted in dance and drama performance area. However, in the last three decades, it is important to note that there has been a significant democratization process within the Balinese art world. Women begun to be given wider chance to participate in every genre of Balinese traditional art; and nowadays the once male-dominated art world has been transformed into free for all art domain.

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Tomorrow, Saturday (6/14/08) Bali Art Festival, a month-long festival participated by all regencies in the province of Bali and from other provinces in Indonesia and several foreign participants, like USA, Korea, Japan, Australia, will be opened with a grand opening ceremony that involve 3000 artist from all over the paradise island of Bali. This opening ceremony will be held in front of the Monumen Perjuangan Rakyat Bali (Bali People Struggle Monument, at Renon Square Denpasar. The main attractions of this opening ceremony is the parade various art performances and cultural treasures from each participants of Bali Art Festival that usually involve thousands of artists.

The Bali Art Festival 2008 will be held from June 14 until July 12 in Bali Art Center Werdhi Budaya at Jalan Nusa Indah Denpasar. The theme of Bali Art Festival 2008 as the cultural event overall is “Citta Wretti Nirodha—Self Restrain toward Balance and Harmony”.

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I walked into the compound of the griya (Brahmin household) in the midst of much activity. Their family gods were getting new shrines and every post and pavilion was wrapped in gold-painted cloth; the neighbors were there in droves making offerings, sorting through rice and busying themselves with the myriad tasks any large temple ceremony entails. And this is two weeks before the ceremony even begins.

This compound is where Ida Bagus Oka Wirjana, or Gus Aji Blangsinga as he is more affectionately known (named after his village of Blangsinga) lives with only a few of his l7 children (with Ida Ayu Putu Muter), 27 grandchildren and 4 great-grandchildren. An incredibly handsome and fit man of 73, Gus Aji is one of the living repositories of the famed Kebyar Duduk dance, which was created in the 1930s by I Ketut Mario and has become one of the standards seen in both sacred and secular venues.

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The second day of Classical Dance and Drama Performances (28/9/2007) was full to rim with various rare performances, from primitive and mystic Sanghyang Memedi trance dance to highly refined Legong Sudarsana, from grotesque and weird Baris Jangkang to elegant Rejang Renteng. Except for Legong Sudarsana, all these dances are extremely rare and can only be seen in special religious occasions.

The first performance was Sanghyang Memedi trance dance from Buleleng regency. This rare performance is only performed when a serious threat of plague strikes a village, this trance dance functions to ward off both the plague and evil spirits. The performance began in complete darkness, all light was out. A group of men sit cross-legged, sang a merry Sanghyang Song to invite the Memedi (supernatural beings which are well known for their playfulness) to enter the bodies of the mediums. No musical instrument accompanied the first song. After the first song was finished, the dancers sit cross-legged face to face in the center of the stage, a brazier was put between them. The chorus sang another Sanghyang song accompanied by musical instruments which were made of bamboo such as flute and tek-tekan (an instrument which consists of two bamboo sticks, hold in each hand).

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Excellent, magnificent, incredible, beautiful, these adjectives are overuse when describing a Balinese dance and musical performance, but these adjectives are definitely not good enough to describe the Balinese dance and musical performances on the first day of Mengenang Sang Guru: A Tribute to Anak Agung Gde Mandera and Gusti Made Sengog, Sunday, 8/26/07.

Left: Gabor (Pendet) dance, middle & right: Legong Lasem dance

The performances on the first day of Mengenang Sang Guru: A Tribute to Anak Agung Gde Mandera and Gusti Made Sengog could be called the performances of the veterans in which the older generation of the pupils of Anak Agung Gde Mandera (affectionately called ‘Gungkak’) and Gusti Made Sengog (affectionately called ‘Niang Sengog’) showed their affection to the late teachers with a brilliant dance performances. The oldest dancers that night were in their early seventy and the youngest were in their late forty.

Legong Lasem dance

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