Bali Arts Festival

 

Bali Arts Festival, By: Pandu Adnyana

The Bali Arts festival is a big event in Indonesia when it comes to art and culture. During a month people can enjoy arts exhibitions, performances and cultural activities. The Bali Arts Festival is a full month of daily performances, handicraft exhibitions and other related cultural and commercial activities during which literally the whole of Bali comes to the city to present its offerings of dance, music and beauty. On display are trances from remote mountain slopes, forgotten or recently revived village dances, food and offering contests, classical palace dances, stars of Balinese stage, odd musical performances, “kreasi baru” (new creations) from the dance schools of Denpasar, as well as contemporary choreography and dance companies from other islands and from abroad. Many performances take place in the amphitheater which can hold up to 6000 visitors.

Each year, the Bali Arts Festival, besides the classical dances of the island, such as the legong, gambuh, kecak, barong, baris, mask dances and the like, is based on the theme around which new “dance choreography” is produced and old village dances and activities revived. Over the years, the whole range of classical Balinese stories – Ramayana, Mahabharata, Sutasoma, Panji – have thus been turned into “colossal” Sendratari Ballets.

For more information and the program, go to the website of Bali Arts Festival.