BALI DANCERS

Bali was such a great week long vacation that I've got to do this in a couple of posts. Here's the skinny:

Bali has the beauty of Hawaii, the landscape to match, and the people are some of the friendliest, funnest folks you'll find. In my travels over the past three years to such places as India, Egypt, Thailand, Malaysia, and Turkey, after one week I said: "I'm coming back here next year." Why...because being in Bali felt like a vacation and not an excursion. Excusions are fine mind you, they're just not always relaxing. Bali was just that.

I digress.

In two separate towns, Ubud and Permuteran, I stumbled across young children practicing traditional Bali dances. Just pure luck. The first time was down the beach from our bungalow at "Puri Taman Sari" where I found out we were one day too late to see the nightime show. The next was in Ubud, at a temple where young girls were practicing dances.

What amazed me was the grace, poise and sheer determination of these young dancers. As you can see from their faces, it was concentrate, concentrate..and then think really hard about what to do. No monkey business here. That comes later at the monkey jungle.

To read more about Balinese Dances:
Bali Dance Info <--Click Here

For example: "The typical posture of Balinese dance has the legs half-bent, the torso shifted to one side with the elbow raised and lowered in a gesture that displays suppleness of the hands and fingers. The torso is shifted in symmetry with the arms. If the arms are to the right, the shifting is to the left and vice-versa."





Double click on any image to enlarge in a separate window