Yesterday was a very full day. We had our first group meeting/orientation at the Pondok, which is the family house compound where we take our dance lessons.
The architecture here is a mixture of traditional southeast asian styles, almost all buildings are compound style, with an entry gate to the properties and a few open terraces and the main house. People seem to take great advantage of the weather and natural beauty of the land.
This year’s group of students is much smaller than the years before. There are more teachers than students, which is proving to be beyond beneficial in such difficult practices. Everyday we’re to split into two groups, one group of musicians focusing on the Gamelan (i’ll explain that in a minute!) and the other group traditional Balinese dance (my group!). Amazingly everyone in my group are experienced or professional dancers. I think that it’s generally the same for the musicians; practically everyone has had basic experience with the Gamelan. That being said that doesn’t make it any less challenging! We are honoured to have some of the best, if not the best, master teachers in Bali. I think that this trip is going to be life changing- I can already feel it.
Other than orientation we had the chance to go back to Denpasar, the capital city of Bali. It’s about an hour drive away. There we went to the Bali Arts Festival, created to preserve and advance traditional culture in the island as it surcomes to the western and northern asian influences. The festival lasts for a month and has hundreds of performers and craftsmen. The day that we went, cudamani's women gamelan group performed and so did the little girl dance group. They were both amazing. I really need to get used to the late nights, since everything starts a few hours after schedule and takes a few hours to perform. We were all exhausted by the end of the night but glad to have seen so many amazing performances.
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