Every year on 14 June at two o’clock in the afternoon, the inception is a festival is heralded with the rhythmic sounds of Balinese kendangs, drums and cenceng cymbals. Hundreds of men, dressed in the battle costumes of Majapahit warriors strike these instruments with both hands. They advance in line, accompanied by women garbed like princesses and ladies in waiting.

Girls in traditional costumes waiting to parade in the opening ceremony of Bali art Festival

Then come Ramayana dancers, Calonarang performers, and a long row of exquisitely dressed women carrying tall, meru-shaped offering. Moreover, such a procession goes on hour after hour, group after group, regency after regency.

Fomous Wayang Wong from Tejakula Buleleng

The idea of the Bali Arts Festival is the brainchild of the former Director General Culture (1968-1988) Ida Bagus Mantra. His basic idea, in line with the national motto “unity in diversity” (Bhineka Tunggal Ika), was to re-dynamize the island’s culture by emphasizing the role of its territorial cores: the banjar neighborhood and the desa adat (village). The creativity of the banjar (neighborhood associations) and desa, (customary villages), which are the fertile ground of Balinese arts, was encouraged. The small seka sebunan association spawned by the banjar and desa were given the opportunity to be creative and to perform at the Bali Arts Festival.

The Jerimpen Parade kick off the opening ceremony of Bali Arts Festival

By sponsoring a series of contest between banjar, villages and regencies, complete with prizes and high exposure, Ida Bagus Mantra succeeded in gaining the enthusiastic support of all the rural population for whom performing at the Art Center became the epitome of success.

Balinese traditional bamboo flute played during the opening ceremony of Bali Arts Festival

It was to Made Bandem though, the lead of the Arts School of Denpasar, that befell the most difficult task: to prevent the Arts Festival from simply becoming a venue for traditional performances, which would be a recipe for failure. Bandem’s challenge was thus to create new types of dance suited to the demands of a newly urbanized population, but which nevertheless remained very Balinese. His answer was the “Sendratari” Ballet, colossal productions of several hundred dancers that combine elements of dance, music and theater. Unlike “traditional” theater, Sendratari ballets tell well-structured narratives in Balinese, instead of Kawi. Ordinary people were thus given easy access to myths and epics which they had started forgetting: Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bima Swarga, Arjuna Wiwaha, Sutasoma, etc. The success went beyond the expectations, and added to the village preparatory contests, it gave the Bali Arts Festival the biggest success it ever enjoyed since its creation twenty years ago.

The newly created Cendrawasih Dance