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Balinese
Dance
One of the things
that I imagine most tourists will experience while
visiting Bali is some version of Balinese Dance. My
sister-in-law is a talented balet dancer and can
probably appreciate the nuance of body motion set
to music, but I somehow missed the connection when
I was growing up. In any case, there are various
Balinese dances, and most have a story or theme:
Good vs. Evil, Young vs. Old, Unrequited Love,
etc.
Not having
"lived" in Bali, I am not sure what role this
traditional dance plays in the life of local
residents. (Other than being a major source of
revenue of course, the major tourist draw that it
is). To be honest, I didn't see anyone walking down
the street in Bali twitching convulsively as the
two ladies can be seen doing in the top left photo.
Besides the intricate twitching of the fingers and
hands, the other distinctive feature of Balinese
dance has to be the bug-eyed look the ladies get as
they move their eyes counter to the motion of their
heads and bodies. Whatever. I can hardly dance to a
disco beat, so I have to give them
credit.
And then there's
"the band". When Midori and I played our video
tapes back after getting home, we realized that no
matter how we cut the video while editing, the
music never seemed to be out of place: you couldn't
tell that we had started or stopped the music in a
different place. Such is the nature of traditional
Balinese "Gamelan" music. Take the usual pots and
pans out of the kitchen cupboard and you've got
most of what you need to equip "the band". Gamelan
icomprises mostly percussive music on gongs and
xylophone-like instruments of various sizes and
shapes. When the instruments are called: gongs,
kempul, kenongs, kempyangs and bonangs, you know
its going to be a fun time.
Click on any of
the thumbnails to see a larger image:
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