Balinese Drama

Arja and Drama Gong
A performance of Arja, Balinese folk opera, can hold an entire village engrossed from late evening until nearly sun-rise. Love stories drawn from the classics of the ancient king-doms of Java are reenacted with all of the tragicomic and ro-mantics ingridients guaranteed to appeal. The royal characters move in a slow stylised dance and sing and talk in a high fal-setto using high Balinese which is translated into the common language and which is much more easily understood by the audience. Drama Gong is a development of Arja that is pre-formed by actors and a musical group without dance and has recently become very popular in the community.

Ramayana
The epic story of Rama and Sita, often performed as a mixture of traditional dance and modern motifs of comedy. The monkeys enjoy artistic liberty and the unforgettable character Hanuman, the white monkey general regularly enthralls audiences.

Shadow Theater
A white screen, a flame, music, and traditional puppets....conjuring a magical and hypnotic performance.

Wayang Kulit (Shadow Puppet)
Wayang Kulit is one of the great story-telling traditions of the Javanese and Balinese. The Wayang show normally consists of a small 4-pieces orchestra, which provides the musical accompaniment, around 60' puppets' carved out of flat of pieces of water buffalo hide and Dalang, or Puppet master. Good characters normally speak in ancient 'Kawi' and evil or coarse characters speak Balinese.

Arjuna Wiwaha Ballet
Arjuna is one of the principal characters in the Hindu epic of the Mahabrata. The Arjuna Wiwaha Ballet describes the nobility and heroism of Arjuna. It is a tribute to his strength of character and devotion to the God Indra. The Ballet opens with the meditation of Arjuna, who is seeking the blessing of God Indra to test his perseverance and spiritual strength. The God puts him through many trials and send beautiful nymphs to break his concentration, but they fail. He then sends the giant Momosimuka to disturb his prayers, but the giant is defeated by Arjuna. Finally, God Shiwa, disguised as a hunter tries to lure Arjuna from his meditation. He too in unsuccessful and Arjuna is accepted by God Indra who give him the arrow of immortality and asks him to guard heaven from the evil giant monster. In the mean while Dewi Supraba, the most dazzling of all the nymphs has discovered that the monster's strength lies in its tongue. While the giant is busy mocking Arjuna, he shoots it in the tongue with his arrow and saves heaven from destruction. Before he departs, he takes the lovely Dewi Supraba as his wife.