 Even as artists, anthropologists and other luminaries spread the name of Bali during the 1930's as the "Island of the Gods" and "Tropical Eden", the Balinese were developing a keen appreciation of their cultural identity. Thus when tourism took off after 1965, they insisted that it followed cultural guidelines: if tourism was to be accepted, it was to be a cultural tourism, or "pariwisata budaya".
At the village level, local music groups, dances and other cultural events were inventoried, then supported by a series of contests at the district and regency level. The ensuing competition energized the cultural life of villages, whose "young blood" was already being drained to the city by the process of economic change and urbanization.
This ambitious cultural platform, to be successful, needed a venue: The Taman Budaya or Arts Center, a huge cultural complex built in the heart of Denpasar in the best fashion of traditional Balinese architecture. The lay-out of its grand theaters, smaller "bale" performance halls and annex buildings symbolizes the story of the churning of the sea of milk, Mandara Giri, from which sprouts the "amerta" or "elixir of eternal life" - culture. Its largest amphitheater can contain up to 6.000 spectators, in a temple-like stage designed for the performing of "colossal ballets". This huge complex, inaugurated in 1973, comes to life once a year at the time of the Bali Arts Festival, between mid-June and mid-July. It is a full month of daily performances, handicraft exhibitions and other related cultural and commercial activities.
It is a month long revelry that perhaps no other place in the world can put up on such a low budget as the Balinese. Not only is their traditional culture alive an well, but they have a tremendous pride in it.
And don't think that this is a "tourist event". The spectators are mostly Balinese. The Bali Arts Festival is the Denpasar cultural event of the year, perhaps it would not be too far fetched to suggest that it is the cultural event of Indonesia. Tourists are welcome, but the event belongs to the Balinese. The festival is thus a unique opportunity to see local village culture both "live" and at first hand.
Each day, the program is divided into two phases: the midday shows, between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., that are usually reserved for musical performances, traditional games, special craft contests (such as offerings, Balinese cooking), and other events, and the night performances, starting at 8 p.m. and lasting into the night, with the cream of Balinese dance. The Arts Center is however open all day until midnight, with a large array of exhibitions, foods stalls, and simply the spectacle of a popular event whose main participants are the gentle people of Bali. Don't miss it! Each year, the Bali Arts Festival, beside the famed classical dances of the island, such as the legong, gambuh, kecak, barong, baris, mask dances and the like, is based on a 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, Panjihave thus been turned into "colossal" Sendratari Ballets. What has the Bali Art Festival -and its underlying cultural policy - achieved? Basically it has succeeded in preserving the cultural memory of the Balinese in a new environment, that of the city. Nowhere else in Indonesia, and perhaps in the world, do city-dwelling people remain so close to their roots as the modern Balinese.
Considering the pride the Balinese
have in their culture, and the adaptability and dynamism they have always
demonstrated, this little hurdle can be overcome. Trust the Balinese.
They will eventually succeed to transform their tradition into a modern,
Balinese culture their own.
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As
the Balinese put it: "Tourism should be for Bali instead of Bali
for tourism." In time, this idea became national policy, as
part of a larger revamping of regional cultures for national purposes.
The policy owes much to the former Director General of Culture (1968-1978)
and Governor of Bali (1978- 1988), Ida Bagus Mantra, an Indian-educated
Balinese. It led, on the one side, to the creation of enclave resorts
such as Nusa Dua to limit the direct impact of tourism, and on the other,
to a long haul cultural policy aimed at nurturing and preserving the traditional
agrarian culture while adapting it to the demands of modernity, and in
particular of "cultural tourism".
On
the city and modern side, schools of dance and art were created, in particular
the Kokar conservatory and the STSI School of Dance and Music. Beside
research, these schools replaced the traditional master/disciple relationship
by modem methods of teaching; standardized the dance movements, produced
new types of Balinese dances for tourism and modem village entertainment.
Most important, it enabled former students to return to the villages as
teachers, where they diffused, beside the creed of cultural resilience
and renewal, new dances and standardized versions of old ones.
It
is a month during which literally the whole of Bali comes to the city to
present it offerings of dance, music and beauty. On display a trances
from remote mountain slopes, forgotten o recently revived village dances,
food and offering con tests, classical palace dances, stars of the Balinese
stage odd musical performances, "kreasi baru" (new creations) from the
dance schools of Denpasar, as well a contemporary choreography and dance
companies fro other islands and from abroad.
It
begins in the villages, where the seka or cultural groups are selected
and organized at the regency level, vie with each other to perform at the
Arts Festival and thus display in front of a large audience the uniqueness
of their village of birth and resting place of their ancestors.
The
opening gong of the Festival is followed by a gigantic parade of offerings
and dancers all dressed up, along with musicians and other contestants
from all the regencies of the island. This two kilometers parade
is held between the Puputan Square - scene of the 1906 fight to the death
of the Balinese national heroes where the inauguration takes place and
the Arts Center proper. It starts at 2 in the afternoon and lasts
until 5 in the evening, followed at night (8 p.m.) by a Sendratari Ballet
based on the story of Pan Balang Tamak, which is performed by hundreds
of dancers from the dance schools of the city of Denpasar. This inaugural
ballet, a guaranteed hit with the Balinese, is repeated the following night.
The
main challenge to the Arts Festival is obviously economic in nature.
As village life is increasingly feeling the strains of monetary considerations,
dancers, musicians and others cannot be expected to continue participating
simply for the sake and the pleasure of it. As costs soar, new sources
of financing have to be found. The obvious answer is the private
sector and in particular the tourism industry. The greater task then
is to convince the hotels, travel agencies and tourist guides to be more
participatory in the Arts Festival rather than to their own sponsored events.
