You are invited to two new offerings in Balinese Dance starting in March at Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley led by Gamelan Sekar Jaya.
Sign up via the website: . 5-week weekly course begins Sat 3/1. And weekly ongoing class begins Wed 3/5.?
Have you always dreamed of learning Balinese dance but don¡¯t know where to start? Or maybe you started learning once upon a time, but life got in the way?
Then this course or class for you! More than ¡°just a dance class¡±, Balinese Dance is an opportunity to reconnect with yourself, find joy in movement, and celebrate YOU!
With expert guidance from Dr. Anak Agung Anom Putra, S.S.T and Ayu Sukmawati, S.H., you will learn the foundations to continue studying after course completion.
All are welcome! All levels, no dance experience needed.?
About the instructors:?Dr. Anak Agung Anom Putra, S.S.T is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, artistic director, performance jurist, and arts theorist from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia who has won many awards and accolades. In 2022 the government of Bali awarded Gung Anom the island¡¯s highest honor for performing artists, the Adi Sewaka Nugraha Award. Early in his career he was a star dancer with the venerable ensemble Gamelan Gunung Sari of Peliatan and won the island-wide award for Baris (he is still known as ¡°Anom Baris¡±). He is an outstanding all-around male dancer and teaches both male and female dance. Gung Anom is the director of Semara Ratih of Ubud, which he founded in 1988 with fellow graduate students and faculty of the national arts institute in Bali. He serves on juries judging Jauk, Barong, Baris, and other dance competitions and is a lecturer at the Hindu University of Indonesia and an occasional guest lecturer at ISI, the Indonesian Arts Institute. He holds a doctorate degree in the religious aesthetic power of the Baris Tunggal dance.
Ayu Sukmawati, S.H., from Ubud, Bali, Indonesia, is a dancer and choreographer who specializes in classic Balinese female roles and is the dance director of Semara Ratih, which she helped found. From a young age, she performed with Gamelan Gunung Sari of Peliatan, following in the footsteps of her mother, Ni Gusti Ayu Rai, and her aunt, Ni Gusti Ayu Raka Rasmi, who was the famous first dancer (with I Sampih) of the classic Oleg Tamulilingan dance. She studied with the esteemed leader of Gunung Sari, Anak Agung Gede Mandera, and is one of the several great dancers of her generation from Peliatan. As a young dancer, Bu Ayu won first prize in the island-wide dance competitions for Oleg and Belibis and in the district-wide Legong Pelayon competition. She specializes in Legong, Oleg, and Teruna Jaya and stands out for the astonishing dramatic power of her dance. For the 2002 Gong Kebyar Festival and competition, she served as the master teacher for the first-place winning Legong dancers.
