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FESTIVAL DANCERS

GAMELAN SEKAR JAYA

NATIONAL/ETHNIC IDENTITY: Balinese
COMPANY DIRECTOR: Wayne Vitale
First Appearance in SF EDF: 1980
Website: www.gsj.org

A gamelan is essentially an orchestra of instruments made of bronze, iron, wood and bamboo found throughout the Indonesian islands. There are twenty-five different types of gamelan in Bali alone. In Bali, dance is always closely allied to gamelan music as almost every gamelan performance includes dance as a major component. Evolving in the context of the multi-faceted ceremonies of Bali-Hindu culture, performances are felt to be offerings to the Hindu deities, who are invited down from the heavens during temple anniversaries and other ritual occasions. Many centuries old, Balinese music and dance continues to evolve as a living tradition, one in which both art forms are inextricably linked.

Gamelan Sekar Jaya has had a fascinating journey since its inception 27 years ago. With humble beginnings- a gathering of American gamelan enthusiasts in a Berkeley living room, the company was recently honored the Dharma Kusuma, Bali's highest award for artistic achievement, never before given to foreign performers. Now acclaimed, internationally, the group has presented more than four hundred concerts throughout North America and Bali, and created over sixty collaborative projects between a variety of performing artists on both sides of the Pacific Rim. Guided by Bali's most gifted artists who come every year to work with the company, Sekar Jaya's success arises not only from its devotion to traditional repertoire but also from its passion for innovative work.

2005 PERFORMANCE

TITLE OF PIECE: KALI YUGA
GUEST MUSIC DIRECTOR: I Made Terip
GUEST DIRECTOR: Ellen Sebastian Chang
GUEST CHOREOGRAPHER: I Ketut Rina
POET/LIBRETTIST: Goenawan Mohamad
GUEST PERFORMERS: Ni Ketut Arini, I Wayan Budiarsa
PERFORMERS: Ni Luh Estiti Andarawati, Avi Black, Kathryn Bodle, Dudley Brooks, Anna Deering, Bea Deering, Laura Deering, Tom Deering, Sonja Downing, Todd Greenspan, Jim Hogan, Maddie Hogan, Steve Johnson, Colum Keelaghan, Evan LaForge, Debbie Lloyd, I Made Moja, Mudita Nisker, I Made Putrayasa, Nicci Reisnour, Mark Salvatore, Jon Skelton, Molly Smart, Ketut Suardana, Christina Sunardi, Alice Terry, Wayne Vitale, Sarah Willner Kwan Wong.

Kali Yuga, which refers to the cycle of decay and dissolution as outlined in the Hindu epic, the Bagawad Gita, is a tribute to the victims of Bali's tragic nightclub bombing in 2002. This catastrophe transformed Bali's international image from an idyllic cultural mecca and tourist destination to a locus of international terrorism. It catapulted Bali into a state of disaster and vulnerability, while simultaneously spawning a process of societal soul-searching.

Gamelan Sekar Jaya's Kali Yuga is an intensive artistic response to this destructive event. It is a contemplative journey and a cross-cultural questioning led by Bali's most revered artists. Poet and librettist, Goenawan Mohamad, banned under the Suharto regime, has become one of Indonesia's leading intellectual critics. Choreographer I Ketut Rina, one of Bali's most innovative, is joined by the celebrated gamelan leader and composer, I Made Terip, along with leading dancers Ni Ketut Arini and I Wayan Budiarsa.

The 2005 Festival offering, Kali Yuga, is a work-in-progress excerpt of an evening-length dance drama to be premiered in 2006. Involving an interdisciplinary, cross-cultural team of world-class artists, this multi-year creative process and production is supported by the National Dance Project and other funders.

2004 PERFORMANCE

TITLE OF PIECES: Tari Nelayan (Fisherman's dance), Joged Bumbung (Flirtation dance)
GUEST MUSIC DIRECTOR: I Nyoman Windha
GUEST DANCE DIRECTOR: I Gusti Agung Ayu Warsiki
DANCERS: Avi Black, Kompiang Metri-Davies (Saturday), I Made Moja, I Gusti Agung Ayu Warsiki, I Wayan Leger, and Rotrease Yates (Sunday)
MUSICIANS: Susanna Miller Benningfield, Kathy Bouvier, Dudley Brooks, Valerie Harris, Lars Jensen, Heather Sansky, Michael Steadman, Wayne Vitale, Samuel Wantman, I Nyoman Windha, and Kwan Wong.

The Gamelan Joged, presented in the 2004 Festival, features instruments made of bamboo which come out of a folk tradition, rather than the bronze instruments which accompany the more typically seen religious and court dances. The Gamelan Joged is often performed at parties, festivals, harvest celebrations and political gatherings.

The two pieces performed in the Festival each come from a rich secular tradition. The first, Tari Nelayan, or, Fisherman's Dance, is one of the few Balinese dances that focus on the sea. It depicts scenes of a group of fisherman, yet its deeper meaning celebrates community spirit and the earth's bounties. In Bali, the Hindu god Vishnu is the symbol of water. It is believed that the sea cleanses the earth. This particular piece first written in the 1960s during a politically tumultuous time in Indonesia's history, is one of few that was composed with a political agenda. The words and movements encourage socialist politics as they allude to the cooperative efforts of workers.

The second piece, Joged Bumbung, translated as Flirtation Dance, comes from a more obscure improvised tradition popular in northern and western Bali. It is an overtly flirtatious dance typically performed at parties. Through mockery and humor, female dancers entice male audience members to dance with them while simultaneously snubbing their advances. The often-untrained audience members are left to sink or swim. These pieces were adapted for the Festival stage by guest dance director, I Gusti Agung Ayu Warsiki, and guest music director, I Nyoman Windha.