I Wayan Juniartha , The Jakarta Post , Singapadu | Thu, 06/25/2009 11:24 AM | Surfing Bali
It was a sight to see: The GEOKS stage transformed into a dreamscape of moving visual and sound narratives during Monday night's performance of Mimpi (Dream).
The dance-drama, a collaborative performance by Balinese and American actors, successfully reminded the audience that popular folklore and children's tales can, in the hands of a skilled director and passionate actors, be turned into a powerful, mesmerizing performance.
"Mimpi indeed reminds us of the rich legacy of folklore we have here in Bali," said GEOKS founder I Wayan Dibia.
"It is up to us now to construct and present that legacy in a new light so it can speak to the younger, modern generation."
A noted choreographer, Dibia has a reputation for taking on daring, sometimes controversial, artistic explorations. GEOKS, a learning and performance facility in Singapadu village, is part of his effort to continue his "rebellion" against what some perceive as the somewhat stagnant culture of Bali.
Mimpi is the brainchild of Lynn Kremer, a professor at prestigious arts school the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, USA, and two noted Balinese choreographers, Desak Suarti Laksmi and I Nyoman Catra.
Kremer spent two months in Bali researching the stories for Mimpi.
The dance drama was first performed in late 2004 at the Holy Cross campus. This year, Kremer brought a team of 14 American performers, including several members of the original cast, to Bali to perform Mimpi at the annual Bali Arts Festival (PKB).
Here, they were joined by local actors and musicians from the Citta Usadhi troupe.
The performance at GEOKS was a kind of dress rehearsal for their big night at PKB on Wednesday.
In the audience at GEOKS was I Made Bandem, a respected scholar and dancer, who is now teaching at Holy Cross.
"The performance filled my heart with pride, seeing my American pupils perform in such a wonderful and touching way," he said.
In her director's note, Kremer stated that a number of elements converge in Mimpi to create a distinctive work told in a magical realism style "using the construct of a dream, two Balinese folktales, Balinese gamelan music with Western keyboard and cello, as well as hybrid dance styles that borrow from Balinese and American dance forms".
Mimpi opens with Putu, played by adult Thomas Layman and little Nyoman Triyana Usadhi, dreaming about his childhood on the banks of the Badung River - a young boy cycles across on stage as a reminder of his past.
"The central story revolves around a lonely man in search of a soul mate, based on the children's tale *Bangau Putih' - a story also found in Japanese and Russian folklore," Kremer said. "Interest in the tale stems from its universal themes of love, devotion, sacrifice and greed."
She pointed out that the sung and spoken texts in the dance drama were taken from or inspired by stories from Bali: "Living in Two Worlds", "The Dancing Pig", "The Crane Wife", "Tibet Through the Red Box", "Blossoms of Longing" and "Dhammapada".
"The story is framed by two constructs: The first is the dream, and the second is a play-within-a-play structure that occurs when Putu travels to the market to sell his cloth," she added. "In the market, he watches a troupe of topeng actors perform *The Dancing Pig', a children's story from Singaraja, Bali, adapted by Judy Sierra," she added.
During the performance at GEOKS, Savannah Shaughnessy gave a brilliant show as the narrator. Her beautiful voice was a treat to the audience's ears.
Another exceptional contribution to the performance was made by Ning Tien, whose cello filled the air with tones of exquisite melancholy.
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