Dance and trance of Balinese children

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Summary

Documentary on the role of dance and trance in Balinese culture, with special attention to children's learning and participation. A personal perspective is provided by I Gusti Agung Ngurah Supartha...

Documentary on the role of dance and trance in Balinese culture, with special attention to children's learning and participation. A personal perspective is provided by I Gusti Agung Ngurah Supartha, a master dancer and teacher attached to the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C., who with his two daughters and two sons discusses, demonstrates, and performs various Balinese dances. Viewed in contemporary footage and in films made by Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson in the l930s, dance is depicted as an important component in Balinese education, beginning in early childhood and continuing in the public schools and as an after-school activity. Trance dances, such as the kris dance for adults, are examined as an indicator of the intimate relationship of Balinese dance and religious practice. I Made Bandem, Made Kaler, and Dr. Milton H. Erickson comment on children's participation in trance dances. Trance dances are also discussed as tourist spectacles and the source of dances such as the legong. Supartha, a member of a family of dancers, recalls his own dance training with I Ketut Mario, who handed down his best-known dance, the kebyar duduk. In turn, Supartha's eldest son talks about the ramifications of retaining and sharing his Balinese heritage in the U.S. The future evolution of Balinese dance is represented by a deer dance created by Supartha, and a multicultural dance invented and performed by his daughters.

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