Monday a woman came to speak to us about the Balinese dance. She’s a white woman who has been living in Bali for several decades and has learned several Balinese dance styles. Admittedly, I was so tired I fell asleep several times during her lecture. However, what I did hear of it was very interesting. She spoke of how each dance has a story, the character each mask represents, how you can tell who the characters in the story are, and how new characters are introduced into a dance style. She also spoke about what dance lessons are like and showed us a few dance moves.
Break for lunch.
Our last formal class was held as a collective group. The topic, at its core, discussed feminist issues as it pertained to the related article. Feminist discussions are some of my favorites, especially with Professor. I found myself glances back at Ian to see his reactions. He’s said some questionable things about women in the past and you can tell he felt a little uncomfortable being a cock in this hen house. He later said that he didn’t feel like he could have much of an opinion on the topic. There is so much I wish to teach him if we stay friends beyond this trip.
My group project group met up after class to discuss potential interview candidates and to set up appointments to interview people. Afterwards we all took a walk to the market. Ariana didn’t feel like being harassed by merchants so she left me and Amanda there. We did some shopping then headed back to Arjana briefly to drop off are goods and so that Amanda can pick up her ticket to the kuchek dance we were required to see that night. We ran into Yessica on the way and invited her to dinner.
I thought it would be best if we found the location of the performance and then find someplace to eat nearby. When we walk into the restaurant we happen to be seated next to Ian, who is dining alone, and who decides to join us. I feel as though I spent most of that meal talking to him about social justice issues. I heard from Ariana and Kendra after the church shooting in South Carolina, that he had some naive opinions about racism. As a man of color – that news was very disappointing to me, however, I wanted to gauge him myself. The verdict is still out.
Kuchek dance is very different from the legong dance I had seen earlier. For starts, the story in a legong dance is “told” to the sound of a gamelan band while the ensemble of kuchek dancers chant “chek chek chek” the whole time. The story was also different, and easier to follow, partly because we were able to read what the story was before the show started. Also because I had a little more background on dance in general. Fun fact: kechek dance was created specifically for tourist because other forms of dance were viewed as too drawn out.
At the end of the dance, it was announced that a traditional fire dance was going to be performed. Essentially, all the dancers have moved to one side of the area. A pile of split coconut shells are lit on fire in the center of stage (coconut shells are the Balinese equivalent to charcoal). Suddenly, a man wearing a dragon costume appears. He is in trance and he runs back and forth through the fire, kicking shells in every which direction. It feels like you’re watching a dragon. After every time he kicks the flames, the shells are racked up again. This happens repeatedly until eventually the dragon is “captured” and the man is removed from the dragon. He looks completely out of it. How you know he was really in a trance: he had kicked flaming hot coconuts at his fellow dancers, hitting a few of them. Their frightened reactions made it clear that that was not part of the show.
The show is over and we all disperse. I find myself by pool writing. I hear voices but I pay them no mind. I eventually head back towards my room and discover that Kendra, Ian, and Leslie are having a chat on Kendra and Patrice’s porch. I’m a bit surprised to see Ian, only because it’s late, he lives on Arjana 3 with the undergrads, and he doesn’t usually hang out with us. I join them. We have this really amazing conversation about life, love, feminism, etc. Kendra and Leslie had been sipping on wine, Delilah winds up joining us, and we decide we need more alcohol. Ian and I take a walk to Circle K for a beer run for the group. When we get back we wind up accidently waking up Patrice, who replaces Kendra since she decided it was time for her to go to bed. That whole session was just really good and a great way to end the night.