The dance of bali

Combining spiritual, mystical and timeless form

by Amy Swan
Special To West Hawaii Today

The two-member dance company Purnama Sari brought ancient and timeless Balinese dance to life before an appreciative and spellbound audience at King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel Saturday night.

In this first-time West Hawaii appearance by the dance company, the intimate venue was prepared with gold umbrellas to symbolize protection, and ritually blessed with holy water, hinting at the mystical experience to come as dancer Surapsari Megumi appeared to open the performance with a dance of welcome and blessing for the Balinese deities and audience, as well.

Accompanied by the ethereal sounds of Balinese flute and percussion instruments, Megumi appeared in a dazzling traditional design fuchsia and gold costume to display the highly stylized and otherworldly movements characteristic of Balinese temple dance. This solo dance featured the scattering of flowers to symbolize the blessings conferred and effectively immersed the assembly into the mystical world of Bali, Indonesia.

This outstanding performance represents just one aspect of Purnama Sari's repertoire. The couple also conducts workshops exploring the principles and origins of Balinesian spirituality and dance as well as instruction in the ritual dance techniques themselves. They have created a children's performance featuring the traditional Indian epic, Ramayana, which is a classic struggle between good and evil. In addition to this dance, the children's program includes presentation of another Hindu myth, Mahabharata, presented through the traditional art of Balinese shadow puppetry brought to life by their associate, Lee Michael Walczuk. The dance company has been performing and teaching nationally since 2000, and for Big Island audiences for the past two years, and they hope to become more active in West Hawaii in the future.

An opportunity to experience the magic and mysticism of traditional Balinese temple dancing is rare outside of Bali itself, and Purnama Sari offers audiences this rare gift as an offering to Big Island residents simultaneously with performing the ritual for the Balinese deities themselves. It is an art form to enjoy for its obvious exotic beauty but is best appreciated in the context of the complex and ancient cultural roots from which it springs.

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For more information about Purnama Sari and upcoming performances, information is available at http://www.PurnamaSariBali.com on the internet.

6 Things About Dayaks, the Fearsome Head-Hunters

The Dayak people represent a group of Proto-Malayans inhabiting the inner part of Borneo (the largest Indonesian island). They are related with the Batak of northern Sumatra, Igorrote of Philippines, and various tribes of Timor, Celebes, Sumatra and Moluccas.

During their history, the Dayaks experienced many external influences, especially of Hinduism, a religion that many ethnic groups of Borneo converted to. Still, Dayaks are highly conservative, and each village is organized in clans composed of various families that admit the authority of a sole chief; this structure allows a tight collaboration in field labor and other collective works. During the harvesting period, festivities accompanied by dances are kept.

Dayaks usually make their villages on the banks of the rivers and lakes. They make branch huts. The large houses are destined to host a whole clan.

Dayaks worship a superhuman power, called semangat, that rules the lives of humans, animals and plants. This invisible life force dwells many places: all the human body parts, cut hair, shadows, names, the water in which a human or animal bathed, traces imprinted in the mud...

Like all Proto-Malayans, Dayaks are a mix between Mongoloids and Asian Blacks, with the predominant genetic background being Mongoloid (the situation is inverse on the coast of New Guinea or Melanesia).

Men are assigned to four classes: children, teenagers, young men and old men. Each class has specific tasks. Young men are before all warriors that have to defend the village against neighboring tribes. When defeating the enemy, Dayaks beheaded them and preserved their heads as trophies in the communal houses. That's why they inspired dread amongst other people, being famous as "head-hunters".

Dayaks use machetes during their journeys through the jungle. They use blowpipes and envenomed darts for hunting small game and birds. Only Proto-Malayans and some tribes of Amazonia are known to use this weapon.

Indonesian Film Festival being held in Budapest

A Garin Nugroho-directed film "Cinta Dalam Sepotong Roti" was shown at the opening of the Indonesian Film Festival here on Friday.

The film festival, the first of its kind, will be screened until February 27, First Secretary of the Indonesian Embassy in Hungary Arena Sri Victoria said in a statement made available here on Friday.

Among those attending the opening were Director of the Urania National Film Theater - where the film festival is being held - Bakos Edit and Indonesian Ambassador to Hungary Mangasi Sihombing.

Bakos Edit expressed his appreciation toward the organization of the film festival as this was the first of its kind.