Papers

• The King’s Mask Maker: Narrating History, Dance and Craftmanship in Bali Irving Chan Johnson National University of Singapore

  In this paper, I push the study of Bali Studies away from traditional concerns with cultural essentialisms to look at the people and stories associated with dance paraphernalia. In Bali, masked dance (Topeng) only makes sense when one considers the masks themselves not as mere accoutrements to the performance but as living objects with complex social and personal histories that stretch across dynamic landscapes. In refocussing the scholarly gaze away from the dance to that of the mask and its maker, we encounter new indigenous interpretations of what dance means in Bali. In the case of the I Dewa Putu Kebes a mask maker from Batuan, this foregrounds the entangled power associations courtly houses had with dance, religion, colonialism, economies and tourism. Kebes’ masks moved across Bali’s dance and artistic landscape, forging complex narratives of history and art across vast spatial and temporal domains.

• Performing Balinese Culture in Diasporic Spaces: The Case of Lila Cita and Lila Bhawa Margaret Coldiron University of Essex

  For more than 20 years Gamelan Lila Cita and Lila Bhawa Indonesian Dance Group have been performing Balinese music and dance in London, around the UK and occasionally in Europe. They are a regular feature of cultural events sponsored by the Indonesian Embassy in the UK, and are popular entertainers at the Anglo-Indonesian Society annual picnic. In 2006 the group performed at the Bali Arts Festival and other venues in Bali presenting not only traditional repertoire, but also their own new creations. Few of those involved with the two groups are actually Balinese, but all have, in one way or another, become entangled with Balinese culture. Members—both British and Balinese—have occasionally become representatives, advocates and spokespersons for Bali, not only addressing the London’s diverse communities, but also within the diasporic Indonesian community in the UK. This paper will explore the history and development of the two groups and the varieties of cultural “entanglement” within their ranks. It will examine how Lila Cita and Lila Bhawa situate Bali as a distinct culture, and in relation to Indonesia and Indonesian culture. Finally, it will look at these groups within the larger, international community of ensembles who perform Balinese music and dance outside of Bali.

Abstract