Bali Art Festival on BaliSpirit.com
The Annual Bali Arts Festival - A Feast for the Eyes and Senses
Every year, from mid-June to mid-July the PKB
(Pesta Kesenian Bali or Bali
Arts Festival) comes to the
Werdi Budaya Art Center, Jalan Nusa
Indah in East Denpasar. Nightly there are performances of both traditional and
contemporary dance and music at a number of the six theatre venues here. During
the day, beginning at 10:00 a.m. the handicraft and food stalls open,
showcasing the best of each regency, with delights for everyone of every age.
In the late morning rare forms of music and dance from all over the island are
shown - a great time to see some great performances. This year nearly twenty
groups from outside Indonesia will also be strutting their stuff. And all of
this is for free!
In 1979, Bali's governor, the esteemed and loved Prof. Ida Bagus Mantera,
opened the very first
Bali Arts Festival on June 20th. He stated that
“the Bali Arts Festival should take its place as the basic forum for the
growth of our love of the arts.” As the arts are such an integral part of
the culture, Prof. Mantera wanted to see it celebrated in a place that would be
accessible to all. To promote this, most performances are free of charge to the
public and those where tickets are necessary are sold at an affordable price to
most people.
Each part of Bali has its unique art forms; the weaving of Sidemen, the jegog
bamboo gamelan orchestra of Negara in West Bali and the genyek
singing of Karangasem in the East. Most Balinese have never seen these forms
and this venue was born to who both Balinese and visitors to Bali the rich
cultural heritage this tiny island has to offer.
The festival begins with its s Grand Parade on opening day, starting from the
Bajra Sandhi Puputan field in Renon and ending at the Denpasar Art Centre.
Each regency is represented with a gamelan orchestra and people dressed in
their regional dress. Often tall, towering offerings are carried of the heads
of colorfully dressed women, once again showing what e diversity Bali has to
offer. Balinese from all over the island come to watch this parade and it is
televised on local TV. It's good idea to get to Renon early in order to get
front row seat. Bring hat and an umbrellas as well as a camera. This year it
begins at 3:30 pm on Saturday, June l7th (time subject to change).
At the Art Centre itself, exhibitions are set up in the two main halls.
Competitions are held of food, costumes, offering making, and pop singing in
the indoor Ksiranawa Theater. Performances are held in the huge outdoor Ardha
Candra amphitheatre, the wantilan (a small, in the round traditional space),
the tetaring Stage outside the Ardha Candra, the Ayodya stage in the old kecak
arena in the northeast corner and in front of the exhibition hall by the river.
The Balinese love to go see the big dance drama spectacles put on by High
School and College of performing Arts. These sendratari usually depict stories
form the Ramayana or Mahabharata and are performed on the immense outdoor Ardha
Candra stage on opening and closing nights.
Another popular event is the show from the winners of the
kebyar gamelan competition. The top four winners from the nine different areas get to perform:
two orchestras pitted against each other on the same stage. If there is intense
rivalry amongst the regencies, this can be quite a noisy affair (from the
audience, not the orchestra). One year the musicians had to wear helmets as
they kept getting pelted with tomatoes and eggs from the “opposing
teams'“ fan club. Not to worry, the committee now makes sure that the two
gamelan groups are not from rival areas.
Some of the most exquisite performances are those done at the Wantilan and the
outdoor stages in the evenings and those in the late morning. Here you often
find forms, which are dying out, watched by only a handful of people but the
spirit of the performance, can be quite moving. No tomato throwing here!
One of the favorites is the Old Masters night when performers who have devoted
their life to an art form are honored. More often than not, theses artists are
over 70, and some have to be helped onto the stage to manipulate a puppet or
play an instrument but once in their element, the fluidity of their limbs
returns. Please realize that often the times of designated performances,
especially those in the mornings, can change or be cancelled.
This Article was written for Balispirit.com by Published author and
Ethnographer,
Ibu Rucina
Ballinger
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