‘Wayang’ - Shadow Puppetry : SKATEBOARD SHADOW PUPPETS

The last type shadow puppets are known as skateboard shadow puppets. These shadow puppets use electric lamps and laser lights to project images from a computer. The background of these performances could be sea, mountains, forests, palaces, and shops. The puppets are played behind a big, wide screen, 4 x 3 m that is twice as big as a conventional screen. In order to play the puppets in such a wide space, a puppeteer has to be assisted by 4 to 5 other puppeteers, who move around behind the screen on skateboards – hence the name.
I Made Sidia and his friends from Gianyar founded this new type of shadow puppetry after the 2002 Bali bombings. They organised several performances in Kuta and Jimbaran to assist the traumatized community through their philosophical and entertaining performances. The puppeteers have created several new characters like African Flamingoes, Sundanese rhinoceros, and even a present-day Balinese teenage girl with gyrating hips and western attitudes, all of which meet both the story line and demand of humor.
Thus, its ritual function helps 'wayang' to be maintained and performed in its sacred form but the modern era has also allowed the creativity of the puppeteer to experiment with new forms of shadow puppets. Why not try and see both kinds while on Bali and decide which you prefer?

‘Wayang’ - Shadow Puppetry : ENTERTAINMENT – THE SECOND CATEGORY

Another type of shadow puppet is based on pure entertainment. The story will be taken from either a part of the 'Mahabharata' or 'Ramayana' epics, although the aim of the performance is purely to entertain the public. In this case, the puppeteer will dominate the show with the jokes and funny movements of his puppets. Political satire, sexual innuendos, insults, and riddles usually dominate such a performance. Mixed language between Balinese, Indonesian, and a bit of English has also become a key ingredient in the performance. The following puppeteers have become popular for their amusing shadow puppets; the late Dalang Lukluk, Dalang Joblar, and Chenk Blonk. During his performance, Chenk Blonk does not use a 'blencong' but prefers electric lamps. This is very modern. When he is chosen to entertain, Chenk Blong rarely accepts to perform a 'sapuleger' show. He prefers his shows to be recorded and sold on compact disc and is proving to be quite popular.

‘Wayang’ - Shadow Puppetry : SAPULEGER – THE FIRST CATEGORY

It is fast becoming a tradition for those born on 'wayang pawukon' to perform 'wayang' at least once during their childhood as a symbolic and spiritual way to save him or her from being chased by Divine Kala. This shadow puppet performance is called a 'sapuleger'; a performance aimed to mentally and spiritually cleanse. More mature people can also hold a 'Sapuleger': for example, after he or she recovers from a serious illness, or to be protected from a series of misfortunes. Many people, including those who were not born on 'wayang pawukon', also hold a 'sapuleger' for the same reasons or to ensure a safe and better future life.
The cost per performance can vary between Rp. 1,5 million to Rp. 2 million including the cost of the offerings. A 'sapuleger' is normally performed at night. In order to save time and money, the family arrives at the puppeteer's house with the complete required offerings, to ask for holy water for the ritual. In this case, the performance is only held symbolically.

‘Wayang’ - Shadow Puppetry : WAYANG PAWUKON

There is a myth in Balinese tradition in which those who were born during 'wayang', a seven day cycle, and 'pawukon' of a 210 day cycle, from the Balinese calendar (the next cycle falls on Saturday 28 January), must hold a shadow puppet performance at least once to avoid misfortune during their life. The myth goes that the God 'Siwa' had a son who was born on a Saturday under 'wayang pawukon'. The son, named Divine Kala asked his father what he could eat. The God Siwa replied that he could eat those who were born on the same 'pawukon' day as him. In the heavens, no one was born on the same day as Divine Kala, until eventually his brother Rare Kumara was born on 'pawukon', the same day as him. When Divine Kala wanted to eat Rare Kumara, the God Siwa prevented him from doing so by pointing out that Rare Kumara was still just a babe. Divine Kala decided to wait but the God Siwa cursed Rare Kumara to remain a child, thus being freed from the threat of being eaten by his brother. Understanding the unfairness and not wanting to wait any longer, Divine Kala hunted his younger brother, who in turn made his escape by coming down to earth.
Whilst on the run, he arrived in a place where shadow puppets were being performed. He hid himself under a bamboo hole used by the gamelan orchestra, so Divine Kala could not get to him. Following behind him, and by now very hungry, Divine Kala ate all the offerings from the shadow puppet show. The puppeteer in turn got incredibly angry with him and asked him to return all the offerings. A compromise was reached; the puppeteer would forgive Divine Kala if in return he would stop chasing his younger brother and whoever was to be born on the same day of 'wayang pawukon'. This was agreed.
Recent developments show that shadow puppetry on Bali now falls into three different categories. The first is shadow puppetry that maintains the sacred nature of the performance without losing its entertaining elements. Since it first appeared, shadow puppetry has been performed to represent many sacred events by ritualistic means; those of Bali's ancestors, her holy men, those of human beings, and of destructive powers. During these performances, a puppeteer not only performs accordingly but also produces the holy water required for the ritual.

‘Wayang’ - Shadow Puppetry : VOICES AND GAMELAN

A gamelan orchestra accompanies the shadow puppets' performance. The orchestra might be small, played by 4 people, or larger, being played by 15 to 20 musicians. The puppeteer plays alone and should be talented enough to change voices according to the characters of the dozens of puppets, voices of men or women, kings or clowns, Gods or demons, as well as the sounds of fire or wind. The talent of a puppeteer lies not only in his ability to present the structure of the story well, with all its necessary complex philosophical values, but also, and perhaps most importantly, in making different character voices in both serious and funny conversations.

‘Wayang’ - Shadow Puppetry : BLENCONG

Shadow puppets can be performed during the day and at night. The daytime play usually accompanies a ritual in a direct way, while the nighttime show is performed as part of a ritual as well as public entertainment. A puppet master or puppeteer plays shadow puppets from behind a screen. A 'blencong', or light of a flame ignited from coconut oil, is used to cast the shadow of the puppets. The quivering flame makes the shadow of the puppet jump alive. In Java, the coconut oil light has now sadly been replaced by electric lamps, a phenomenon that is now also occurring on Bali. During the show, two assistants aid the puppeteer by providing him (as the puppeteer is rarely a 'her') with his required puppets. Fragments of the Indian epics 'Ramayana' and 'Mahabharata' are popularly played out as themes for the shadow puppets.

‘Wayang’ - Shadow Puppetry ( 1 )

Most Balinese performing arts are considered sacred although there is a wonderful balance of entertainment involved. Shadow puppets are a good example. This is one of the most sacred of the performing arts as most shows are performed ritualistically, although their quality and popularity are not only dependent on how good the puppet master presents the story and moral values, but also as to how entertaining their presentation is.

PURNAMA ( FULL MOON ) ( 2 )

Nowadays, purnama in Sanur is still beautiful, but people do not need to wait to come to the beach on that day. People can come to Sanur every day if they like. Purnama and Sanur no longer have a strong connection. The tall building on Sanur beach, which used to be considered so splendid, has now lost its attractiveness. Also, the number of places for recreation has increased; now it is mainly malls and cafes where teenagers like to hang around at the week end.

The romantic dimension of the full moon has become less celebrated by teenagers nowadays. Changes have taken place, marked by more spiritual activities, held on purnama day. On the night of purnama, young people around the town of Denpasartemple Jagatnatha, located in the front of Puputan Badung Park. The praying itself does not take long. Some people like to stay up late in the temple or doing what they called makemit, praying and establishing peace of mind but others like to hang around the temple and the Puputan Badung Park
The spiritual dimension of purnama has been very strong recently. Every purnama, many primary and secondary school students in Denpasar, and in other regions throughout Bali, come to school without uniform but wearing traditional Balinese attire. They pray at school together before the classes start. Non-Balinese kids may wear Balinese attire if they wish, although they do not have to. prefer to put on their Balinese attire and go to pray at the until late night. During the purnama night, the park is packed with people, a scene that did not exist three decades or so ago. Those who come to Jagatnatha temple are mostly young people, including school students. On purnama day, students of high schools in Denpasar go to school after hours to pray at their school temple. Some stay there until late at night, while others go to Jagatnatha temple to pray again.

Using Balinese traditional costume (pakaian adat) is an important development in Balinese society; especially among the young generation. They are proud of their traditions and this is in contrast to what happened in the 1950s and 1960s. Young people were then ashamed to wear Balinese attire. If they went to temple some distance away by bicycle, they tended to wear trousers on the way and kept their Balinese clothes in a bag. They only put them on when they arrived in the temple. After praying, they wrapped up the pakaian adat again and put them back in the bag. However, nowadays, things have changed dramatically and the changes are supported by the promotion of purnama as the day for Hindu students to wear Balinese costume.

Schools have started to use the so-called Bali or Hindu greeting 'Om Swastiastu'. The use of this greeting is aimed at strengthening Balinese identity. The construction of regional identity has been very strong but is becoming more important in Indonesia since the promotion of the regional autonomic system of government since 2000. Each region has changed greatly in order to promote as well as enrich their local culture. In Bali, tradition and culture as well as Hinduism have become the main elements of identity construction. Purnama in Bali has shown more ritual dimension, though it has not lost its romantic atmosphere at all.

Visitors who happen to have purnama during their holiday in Bali may be lucky enough to see how the Balinese carry on their traditions in the modern era.

On the day of the full moon, Balinese people usually do tirta yatra or pilgrimage to their family or main Hindu temples such as Besakih, Tanah Lot, and Uluwatu. Some often go to pray to Alas Purwo Temple and Mandara Giri near Semeru Mountain in East Java. They come in groups, travelling by bus, like groups of civil servants, hotel or garment factory workers, and the cost paid or subsidized by the company. Tirta yatra has become a fashion and is usually done on purnama day.

Although we are focusing upon the full moon in this article, it should be mentioned that 'Tilem', the dark moon, is also an auspicious day in the Balinese calendar.

PURNAMA ( FULL MOON ) ( 1 )

Purnama or full moon is an auspicious day to Balinese people. Many important Hindu rituals fall upon or are held at this time. The day is believed to bring happiness both socially and spiritually. The significance of purnama, however has changed over recent times.

In the past, say four or five decades ago, purnama had more meaning for romantic things, while its ritual dimension was rather insignificant. Between the1950s and 1970s, purnama was the day that teenagers were always very much looking forward to. On the purnama day, they enjoyed the brightness of the night by going to the beach. Teenagers in Denpasar, for example, went to Sanur beach to enjoy the beauty of the full moon. Many people also swam at the beach that night. They believed that by swimming at the beach on purnama day, they were not just cleaning their bodies but also their minds.

Because the transport facilities before the 1970s was not as modern as nowadays, Denpasar inhabitants went to Sanur by bicycle. Limited street lighting on the road was not an obstacle to their travelling by bicycle because the moon poured its shining light on the road. One after another bicycle usually went to Sanur on the night of purnama. The light of the moon not only eased the ride but also accentuated the romance of their journey.

On the purnama night, Sanur beach was packed with people, usually until midnight, when most of the visitors went home. People avoided hanging around at the beach until late at night because of the magical images of the area. Besides going to Sanur at purnama, teenagers also liked to go to the cinema. New releases of films were often shown for the first time at purnama so as to be able to attract a bigger audience. Sanur beach and the cinema were among the few places available for recreation at that time.

Going to Sanur for teenagers also let them see the 'splendour' of the first and only ten storeyed building in Bali; The Grand Bali Beach Hotel located on Sanur beach. This hotel was the most attractive object for local people to see during holidays such as Galungan and Kuningan or New Year.

Nowadays, purnama in Sanur is still beautiful, but people do not need to wait to come to the beach on that day. People can come to Sanur every day if they like. Purnama and Sanur no longer have a strong connection. The tall building on Sanur beach, which used to be considered so splendid, has now lost its attractiveness. Also, the number of places for recreation has increased; now it is mainly malls and cafes where teenagers like to hang around at the week end.

The romantic dimension of the full moon has become less celebrated by teenagers nowadays. Changes have taken place, marked by more spiritual activities, held on purnama day. On the night of purnama, young people around the town of Denpasar prefer to put on their Balinese attire and go to pray at the temple Jagatnatha, located in the front of Puputan Badung Park. The praying itself does not take long. Some people like to stay up late in the temple or doing what they called makemit, praying and establishing peace of mind but others like to hang around the temple and the Puputan Badung Park until late night. During the purnama night, the park is packed with people, a scene that did not exist three decades or so ago. Those who come to Jagatnatha temple are mostly young people, including school students. On purnama day, students of high schools in Denpasar go to school after hours to pray at their school temple. Some stay there until late at night, while others go to Jagatnatha temple to pray again.
The spiritual dimension of purnama has been very strong recently. Every purnama, many primary and secondary school students in Denpasar, and in other regions throughout Bali, come to school without uniform but wearing traditional Balinese attire. They pray at school together before the classes start. Non-Balinese kids may wear Balinese attire if they wish, although they do not have to.

Bondres: Bali Style of Comedy ( 2 )

The prelude scene, marked by a couple of mask dances, was followed by several scenes that led into a plan for a big ritual in the palace such as a wedding. Since the king was respected by his people, he then received a lot of support to make the party run smoothly. The three funny characters enthusiastically come to the palace as representatives of the people.
Using a mixture of languages - Balinese, Indonesian, and a bit of English, the arrogant man comes first, and says how he will dedicate his skill to the wedding ritual. Identifying himself as a civil servant who works at an upper level he appears so confident yet hilarious. He uses a lot of word games, mixing language, and mocking references to modernity and current issues in tourism, thereby giving fresh and authentic jokes for the audience.

As for the other two characters, the chubby-cheeked lady and the deaf old man, although looking very old, the woman introduces herself as a virgin and still a university student. When the king's adjutant welcomes and mocks her as an old and unattractive woman, she then gives the man a lesson by showing her high knowledge of moral and religious values. The funny elements from the character of the deaf old man come from the dialogue between the two, which is full of misunderstandings. Although almost all bondres characters are depicted as stupid, they also sometimes appear as smart and literate people who know a lot about history, tradition, and religious values; reflecting the high literacy level of the dancer, Ngurah Windia.

The Topeng Tugèk Carangsari was very popular throughout the 1980s and 1990s. They were invited not only for ritual or ordinary performances but also used by government institutions and NGOs to promote ideas including 'awareness of tourism', 'awareness of law', on family planning, and on road traffic. Now their dancers are getting old and are unable to perform with the original team. Moreover, their jokes are losing some of their humour since they have been continually recycled by other bondres groups.

The Topeng Tugèk Carangsari group has been very influential. Almost all bondres groups have copied its format with very little adjustment. Mask-dance groups from Denpasar, Badung, and even from North Bali nowadays, often recycle the format and content of Topeng Tugèk Carangsari's humour. Now such mask dances often also appear on TV and are used to make trade promotions. A bondres group from North Bali, which has been very popular recently, has a western dancer that makes it possible for the group to offer more jokes in language games between Balinese, Indonesian and English, either when the Balinese express thing in English or the western dancer says something in Balinese or Indonesian.

Recently, many bondres have left out the stories from their performances and transformed it into pure comedy. After the Bali bombings, several bondres groups were invited by government or NGOs to entertain the public in order to help society eliminate their fears. Bondres also often appear in hotels or even at police station anniversary celebrations. Most of the groups are still able to make people laugh although they are not as funny as the original Topeng Tugèk Carangsari; the pioneers of what is an essentially typical Balinese form of comedy.

Bondres: Bali Style of Comedy ( 1 )

Balinese people have a great sense of humour. This can be seen through their visual arts such as painting, sculpture and the performing arts; including the sacred puppet-shadow and mask dance. Clown characters that make jokes and help audiences understand stories are pre-eminent in all of the Balinese performing arts.

One of the most popular forms of performing arts that is dominated by or often focuses upon only humorous elements, is bondres, also known as topeng bondres. Topeng in Balinese means mask, while bondres refers to comic characters. Topeng bondres means an amusing form of mask used by dancers to make a comical appearance.

Bondres became known in the mid 1970s through the birth of a mask dance group called Topeng Carangsari, named after the village of Carangsari, North of Sangeh Monkey forest. Before this decade, the word 'bondres' was not know and still doesn't appear in today's dictionary of the Balinese language.

The Topeng Carangsari was the first group of mask-dancers to create the typical clown and they made the whole performance entertaining through their fresh, original, and smart jokes. Mask-dance used to be a sacred or serious dance, usually performed to accompany a ritual such as a temple festival or a particular stage in a cremation ritual. When the mask-dance transformed into a performing genre, like prembon, by performing particular stories such as the genealogy of a king or clan, they were hardly entertaining and quite boring. Suddenly, Topeng Carangsari lead by a talented dancer, I Gusti Ngurah Windia, came up with great format of mask-dance which is called topeng tugèk Carangsari. Tugèk means 'chubby beautiful lady'.

Topeng Tugèk Carangsari created three distinctive characters who are a chubby-cheeked lady, the hare lipped arrogant man, and a deaf old man. These three characters have similar important roles, which are to articulate the story and to make audiences laugh. Interestingly, these characters were all played by one dancer, Ngurah Windia, who also played other characters such as a priest and king's adviser or enemy. He played each role just by changing masks and voices accordingly. The total number of topeng dancers is six. Other characters are the princess and her follower, the king (played by a female dancer) and two of his male adjutants. They were quite a solid group.

SELAMAT HARI KEMERDEKAAN RI KE-62

JOGED - A FUN DANCE ( 2 )

Pengibing are attracted to dance, not just because they like it, but also because they are attracted by the charms of the joged. It is not unusual for one or two of the more adventurous young men to try to move his hips so he can touch the joged's hips, or even to steal a quick kiss. The more beautiful a joged dancer is, the greater the number of men volunteering!

Joged has a long history. In the kingdom era, early 19th century in Bali, the image of joged dancers was not very good. A performance was often arranged by kings to entertain their guests and the dancers were often low status women who could do little to object when asked by the king to please guests, whether romantically, sexually or in any other way.

Unfortunately, the negative image of joged dancers continues until the present time. After the reformation era, joged became a wild performance in terms of its hip shaking and erotic movements.

The distribution of a VCD of pornographic jogged, filmed using an amateur video in 2002, made the negative images of joged even worse. In this and in following years, images of joged caused public controversy; many people liked to watch a 'wild joged', while others accused it of not being in accordance with moral values.

Joged had usually been performed in the annual Bali Arts Festival but, as a consequence of the joged porn VCD, the performance disappeared from the 2004 Bali Arts Festival. Interestingly, at the national level, issues of erotic gyrations of the young dangdut singer Inul Daratista also sparked controversy, but it has been allowed and accepted by the dominant view as a type of performing art.

Ideas to promote joged came up and were welcomed as long as the dance developed without any tendency to sensual or sexual movement. A 'Festival ngibing' was held to improve the politeness and dancing ability of spectators when invited to dance. Additionally, the aesthetic aspect of the dance was emphasised.

After some efforts to minimise wild aspects of joged, it reappeared in the Bali Arts Festival 2005. As expected, it was in a more polite form though the tendency to the hot shaking hips and kiss-stealing has not disappeared at all.
Joged has often been performed to entertain a group of tourists with the main aim of creating a cheerful and fun occasion where tourists, male and female, can experience stretching their hands for a Balinese dance! The happy and entertaining quality of joged much depends upon where it is performed and who are the audience.

JOGED A -FUN DANCE ( 1 )

Balinese dance usually identifies sacred characters because most dances are performed in connection with religious rituals. However, there are also many secular types of dance that are done purely for entertainment and fun and there are others that are performed with the tourists in mind.

One of the most irreverent of Balinese dances is joged, which is also known as joged bumbung; referring to the instruments made of bamboo used to accompany it. In the Indonesian and Balinese languages, joged means to shake the hips. A joged dancer wears relatively unelaborate attire, comprising a kebaya and sarung. Her head, either with or without gelungan, is decorated with fresh and gold-plated flowers and she will be holding one or more fans while dancing. The fans are used to touch spectators in order to invite them to join the dance.
Unlike many other forms of dance, joged doesn't have any particular pattern of movement or special steps. It can start and finish at any time but 10 minutes is about the average time for each dancer. Great ability to improvise is a must for a joged dancer and although every dancer can do joged, the audience always expects to see an attractive and charming girl. She has to throw a lot of smiles to make her appearance attractive to the spectators, who are generally predominantly male!
Shaking the hips is one of the important characteristics of joged. The dancer does this in a seductive way in order to attract people to dance with her. An onlooker invited to dance is called pengibing and his dance is called ngibing. In one joged performance, there can be between 6 and 12 dancers and the show can take from 1 to 2 hours. Each girl appears once and invites from 4-8 spectators to dance but there is no set number for this.
A joged dancer usually comes to pick one of the bystanders after making a brief attractive dance movement. She selects one among many of usually rowdy watchers who raise their hands; this invited spectator won't necessarily know how to dance. Before dancing, the girl gives him a sash to be tied round his hips as a symbol of tying up his desires. While he tries to dance, his appearance will almost certainly look odd and this is a great source of amusement for the rest of the crowd. If you find yourself at a performance of joged bumbung and you don't fancy being dragged in to the centre, try to keep a good distance away because it is considered impolite to refuse the dancer's invitation.