Bali Agung Behind The Scenes

I Made, Sidia, SSP., M.Sn (2010) Bali Agung Behind The Scenes. Documentation. ISI Denpasar.

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Abstract

The establishment of early Bali-setting the scene. A god like spiritual force sets about Creating beautiful and serene Bali-forests, rivers, daily life-the people. Bali as we dreamt it was.We introduce the King, Jaya Pangus. His position, his role-his place amongst his people. We know that he single.A Chinese ship arrives on the shores of Bali. The King meets the Captain of the ship. We see a beautiful girl aboard the ship but don’t know yet who she is.We see the introduction of an incredible array of goods that have been brought ashore and shown to the Balinese people. These include, porcelain, silk, opium, fireworks, china/crockery, coins, and Chinese decorations.We present a large Market scene-a scene where we see the exchange of Chinese trading goods with the Balinese goods-a wonderful energetic and vibrantly colourful scene. We bring into this scene the Barong and Lion dance-a cultural exchange.The King in discussions with the Captain of the ship is introduced to the Captains daughter (Kang Ching Wi)-he immediately falls in love. He proposes and asks for the captain’s daughters hand in marriage.The Wedding-a mix of Balinese and Chinese wedding-a magnificently staged wedding-a wedding of Royalty. Brilliantly colourful decorations fill the stage-combination of Chinese and Balinese. The priest who conducts the wedding is not happy with the marriage. He can foresee that there will be problems brought upon the Balinese people. But he still conducts the wedding. When life settles back into supposed normal life we begin to notice that life has in fact begun to fall out of balance-there appears to restlessness within the society-people begin to fight, we start to see many problems arising from gambling, people forget about taking care of the land.The King unhappy with what he sees, departs the city, along with his wife in search for a new kingdom-a new home.The king, on discovering a new place, goes into the forest with a soldier for protection to walk and meditate-to think about what his new world may possibly be. he sees a beautiful place-a wonderful world before him-wonderful trees and plants, many animals that are carrying their babies or children. He thinks about his life without a child. He falls into a deep meditation.Whilst in a meditative state, a woman is seen wandering thru the forest and she spies on the king from afar. He wakens from his dream state and sees the woman. She approaches him and enquires his marital status. He checks her out. After some contemplation, He responds that he is single. He feels full of desire and proposes to the woman. All the animals assist with making the wedding-it is a good celebration-but he does feel that there is something missing.Meanwhile, Kang Ching Wi has wondered why the King hasn’t returned to her and decides to go looking for her husband with a search party. He comes across the King, shocked to see that he is happily married to another woman. An argument breaks out. A fight breaks out between the Kings men and Kang Ching Wi. Silat/Barong and Chinese Dragon dance/fight. The temple is destroyed.God arrives………the mother of the New wife. She sits like in judgement. Asks the King why he has married this new wife. Does he not have another wife from his previous marriage. He denies anything about being previously married.God is annoyed and angry at the Kings lie and turns both he and Kang Ching Wi into statues. All the fighting stops-the people realise that they now have no King and ask god for forgiveness.God asks the people to respect the statues and for the statues to protect the people.The people realise that they now have no King-but it is discovered before too long that the new wife is pregnant and her child will be the new King- great merriment and celebrations.The Finale is a wonderful colourful celebration that life has returned to normal. The land is restored to good health, the people find their rightful place and relationships return to a peaceful and loving situation. The finale will include the full cast.

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