Dancing Out of Bali by John Coast

Author:John Coast
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781462904716
Publisher: Tuttle Publishing

7

Invitation to Malaya

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In the month of November a light rainy season came upon us again after seven months of warm and dry weather. The club was busy building a high thatched shelter in front of the puri, when a letter came from Kuala Lumpur, signed by Noel Ross and Ben Joppe, asking for a date when I could fly over to Singapore in order to discuss all the artistic and financial details connected with a tour of Malaya. They seemed to be planning at the highest level, for they mentioned that both Sir Henry Gurney-later ambushed by Chinese Communists and murdered—and Mr. Malcolm Macdonald, had signified their willingness to sponsor such a good-will visit, while Mr. Loke Wan Tho, the rich Chinese owner of the Cathay Building in Singapore and a generous patron of the arts, was showing some readiness to discuss underwriting the tour's preliminary costs.

This invitation could not have come at a better time for us, for the Colombo Exhibition was being held soon in Ceylon, to which it was also proposed to send Balinese dancers. And to date Pliatan, a village considered outside the artistic control of Denpasar's officialdom, had been ignored, and the group that had been chosen to go to Colombo was the centre of much political wrangling, in the very vociferous heart of which was our acquaintance, Nyoman Kaler and a transient Sumatran journalist. To keep the peace in Denpasar, these two had been forced to ask Lotring's rival group to join them, and we heard that extraordinary hybrid rehearsals were even now taking place, with dancers trying to fit their steps to one another's quite different styles, and with a composite gamelan being joined together under Lotring and Kaler, picked form diverse villages and "parties.” Under the circumstances it was not surprising that only a very unenviable standard was reached.

Our Anak Agung, however, proud of what Pliatan had achieved in the past year, was offended and disappointed that he had not been approached about Colombo at all. To my counsel that this was a good thing and to let them go without resentment, he simply could not agree.

"Does John not think that Pliatan has a fine Legong and gamelan?" he had asked. "And have not we brought Mario from Tabanan to create a new dance? It is not good that they ignore us completely, these men from Denpasar!"

But I had replied, perhaps seeing more long-sightedly than he the difficulties that lay ahead, "Let them go, Agung Adji. I am glad that these people are always the ones to be called to Djakarta, to dance for the Army in Java, or to go to this Colombo Exhibition. For if we go abroad think of all the jealousy which we shall meet. Now, at the very least we shall be able to point out to the Denpasar people that it is our turn—that so far they have monopolized all the trips outside Bali." "That is perhaps true," he answered. But then he wagged his head again sadly, saying, "But my mouth tastes bitter.

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