Tropical Heat Tour: Bali Part 13
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
I was happy that I caught up on Photoshopping all of my snaps today. Then I had a very late lunch–some might say dinner–at Bumbu Bali, a small cafe just across the street from Ubud Palace. Since the last time I was here in 2010, they completely rebuilt this place. It used to have more of a homespun Indonesian cafe vibe, but now it looks a lot more upscale. I liked the way it was better before. Anyway, I had a tasty veggie burger and fries. Then a bit later, since the first meal was quite small, I filled up my stomach to capacity with a not-so-tasty veggie wrap. Well, that pretty much wrapped it up for me, as I went to hang around in front of Ubud Palace for an hour or two to wait for tonight’s show.
A super old man ticket seller kept asking me if I wanted a face massage for $2.00, but of course I declined. In some quadrants of the galaxy, including the one I live in, his behavior might be considered a bit odd. An hour before showtime, as some workers set up the plastic chairs in front of the stage, I snagged one center front, since it’s now high season in Bali and the audience will be capacity size. The performance, titled Legong Mahabrata by Sekaa Gong Jaya Swara, opened with an instrumental created in 1993 called Tabuh Ombak Ing Segara inspired by sometimes calm, sometimes tempestuous ocean waves.
The first dance came in the form of the Tedung Agung, an elaborate welcome dance featuring lots of twirling umbrellas for protective symbolism and aesthetics. Second up was an unusual version of the Baris with four warrior dancers bearing bad-ass kris (daggers) instead of the usual one…for four times the fun! Likewise, the Legong Supraba featured five dancers instead of the usual three to tell the story of Rakasa Newatakwaca, who wanted to merely destroy the Earth and Heavens. Following that was another instrumental called Tabuh Angklung, then the super tight and hyper Taruna Jaya, a solo dance that displays the many moods and enthusiasm typical of adolescence. Next came an unusual, slow and haunting solo masked dance called Topeng Arsa Wijaya, followed by the ender, a double decker handheld windmill thingy–the name of which was not mentioned in the program–that provided quite a pile of excitement and eye candy to each and every audience member.
Roll over photos for captions.
Words and photos ©2012 Arcane Candy.
Who know what was on his hands. Maybe he just wants to feel a mans face from the states.