Performance In Bali

Leon Rubin and I Nyoman Sedana, both international theatre professionals as well as scholars, collaborate to give an understanding of performance culture in Bali from inside and out. The book describes four specific forms of contemporary performance that are unique to Bali: Wayang shadow-puppet theatre Sanghyang ritual trance performance Gambuh classical dance-drama the virtuoso art of Topeng masked theatre. These culturally unique and beautiful theatrical events are contextualised within religious, intellectual and social backgrounds to give unparalleled insight into the mind and world of the Balinese performer.

Discover the richness and beauty of Bali's many performing art forms. This book is a lavishly illustrated introduction to the most popular forms of traditional performing arts in Bali--among the most intricate and spectacular musical and theatrical performances found anywhere. Ideal reading for visitors to the island, as well as anyone interested in Balinese culture, this book presents the history and form of each performance--with 250 watercolor illustrations and full-color photos to aid in identification. Introductory sections discuss how the performing arts are learned in Bali and the basic religious and cultural tenets expressed through the arts. Subsequent chapters describe each form, including Gamelan Gong Keybar, Gambuh, Legong Keraton, Baris, Wayang Kulit and many more! Chapters include: What is Gamelan? Women in Non-Traditional Roles The Stories in Balinese Theatre Sacred and Ceremonial Dances And many more! Expert authors I Wayan Dibya and Rucina Ballinger discuss how the performing arts in Bali are passed from one generation to the next and the traditional values these performances convey, as well as their place within religious celebrations and how and when the performances are staged. In addition to including a bibliography and discography, the book is enhanced with over 200 stunning photographs and specially-commissioned watercolor illustrations from artist Barbara Anello.

Featuring hundreds of full-color photographs, paintings, figurines, crafts, and furniture Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance is an exploration of the very best Balinese culture has to offer. For nearly a century, mention of Bali has evoked images of a tropical paradise. But it is not only the beauty of the island that has attracted artists, dancers, celebrities and scholars. Bali is also famed for its vibrant performance and ritual arts traditions. Although the island is so small it can be circled in a day, it is home to more than 20,000 temples, and each of these produces annual festivals. Where ritual is such a part of daily life, one cannot draw clear lines between the secular and the religious arts. Bali: Art, Ritual, Performance presents a holistic view of the ways that art, ritual, and performance interrelate within the seamless fabric of Balinese life.

"The Kecak is one of the most well-known dramatic dance performance practices on Bali. It is based on stories from the Old-Indian epic Ramayana, performed by an ensemble of male and female solo dancers and accompanied by a group consisting of approximately 100 men, who function both as musical accompaniment and living scenery that can be flexibly choreographed. Since its genesis in the 1930s the Kecak has been almost solely performed in a tourist context. This book gives a thorough analysis and description of the Kecak in its present form and explores how the Kecak became and stayed a tourist genre for more than 80 years. The book is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the Kecak in its present form, including musical, choreographic, and dramatic elements. The connection between cultural tourism on Bali and Kecak performance practice is analyzed in detail, including the dependency between tourism professionals and artists and ways of promoting the kecak. Tourists' perspectives on the Kecak are addressed separately. The second part deals with the genesis and development of the Kecak from the 1930s onward"--

The studies in this book examine traditional performance genres in the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali. They cover puppet and human theatre, dance, sung narrative, narrative temple reliefs, and vocal and instrumental music, span a period of more than a thousand years, and range over four cultural complexes: Sundanese in western Java, Javanese in central and eastern Java, Chinese in eastern Java, and Balinese in Bali.

The studies in this book examine traditional performance genres in the Indonesian islands of Java and Bali. They cover puppet and human theatre, dance, sung narrative, narrative temple reliefs, and vocal and instrumental music, span a period of more than a thousand years, and range over four cultural complexes: Sundanese in western Java, Javanese in central and eastern Java, Chinese in eastern Java, and Balinese in Bali.

Drawing on ethnographic and archival research conducted on the Indonesian island of Bali, this book demonstrates that more nuanced attention to problems of media will have serious implications for how we think about the study of religions, past and present.

"...a succinct and thoughtful description and analysis of the development and haracter of Bali's 'touristic culture'...this is an excellent book for a student readerhip. It renders in straightforward language some quite difficult concepts." - Anthropos "This well-written, readable, and concise book forms an excellent introduction to the relationship between culture and tourism." - Focaal "...there is much to enjoy in this book; the writing is uncomplicated, lively and engaging: the conclusions are both daring and thought-provoking. Above all, thee is the author's readiness to engage with cross-cultural comparison in a theoretically driven and explicit way." - Social Anthropology Based on field research carried out over two decades, the author surveys the development of the anthropology of tourism and its significance, using case studies drawn from Indonesia, New Guinea and Japan. He argues that tourism, once seen as rather peripheral by anthropologists, has to be treated as a phenomenon of major importance, both because the size of the flows of people and capital involved, and because it is one of the major sites in which the meeting and hybridization of culture takes place. Tourism, he suggests, leads not to the destruction of local cultures, as many critics have implied, but rather to the emergence of new cultural forms. The central part of the book presents a detailed case-study of the island of Bali in Indonesia. It traces the development of tourism there during the colonial period, and the ways in which "Balinese traditional culture" was developed first by western artists and scholars in the colonial period, and more recently by Balinese government officials in the guise of "cultural tourism." The general theme of the "presentation of tradition" is also discussed in relation to Toraja funerals in the Indonesian province of Sulawesi, western visitors to the Sepik River in Papua-New-Guinea, and the small city of Tono in northern Japan which has become a center for the study of folk-lore.