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Dawn at Pantai Matahari
Boats for Lembongan wait for passangers
There's no landing stage
so we have the choice between getting wet
or let a porter carry you...
Koman (11 years) prepares himself
Mangku Warta gives instructions
The same Koman, a few hours later
Topeng dance, with masks
Money! 2000 Rupiahs !
who wants to earn them by dancing?
They continue like this for a long time
I'll spare you the rest
at least for the moment
I'd like to present another dancing girl to you
(Novi for friends)
this dance is called Oleg Tambulilingan
the Bumblebee Dance
the Bumblebee comes a bit later
I've seen Novi dancing since 5 years
She's eleven years old now
she's getting more and more beautiful
she dances better and better
I adore her
Large sums are bet sometimes
Not easy to know what exactly happens during bets
It's a draw...
On this beach I met Ayu
with Dewa, her husband and their son Maesa
she invited me to her village
"I only have an old house"
since then she sent me an sms each day
I'll take you there in a while
first some reggae music, very popular among the Balinese
Jegu, the village of Ayu
40 km north, inner Bali
7 pm, rush hour
kids go to school, their parents go to work
or buy some food
to cook rice
They make a lot of sambal , a very spicy sauce
A few cloves of garlic,
shallots
Balinese men love cockfighting
heart of banana tree trunk
some oil
sugar
a little more coconut oil
a few leaves
a pinch of pixie dust
a fat pig
even two ...
Sensitive souls are asked to close their eyes for a moment
Joged bumbung , considered as *** by women
Aérobics in school, Kukuh
Ariz and Saras have fun improvising a dance.
Back to Sanur
Koming, one year and a half ...
during an evening rehearsal for a grand ceremony
with singing, dancing, " opera ", drama
Dancing and singing " Janger "
For this Janger it takes twelve men and twelve women
During the first rehearsals only eleven men were there
Then they asked me to join them.
I've tried four evenings, it was not easy
but we laughed a lot about my clumsiness
When a thirteenth man came he took my place
That way I could focus on filming the entire ceremony
I've just played a small role in the "theater " part
There I didn't understand what went wrong,
but they hade a lot of laughs !
The only " dancers ", professional actors, performing this evening
All the others are amateurs
shopkeepers, bartenders and a mechanic
After the long " play" ( two hours), the conclusion
The great magician with his assistants
He called the devil, the witch who is in the temple close by
and summoned her to leave.
A priest sprinkles everyone with holy water
to cleanse us and protect against evil forces
The witch is stronger than the magician, he flees
Here comes Rangda , the evil witch
demonic destructor, child eater
The priest sprinkles the assembly once again
to avoid misfortune
One more Rangda ? Or her daughter Ratna ?
More and more people get into a trance
They are immediately been taken care of
to prevent them from hurting themselves or others
those who are in trance are caried into the temple
where they will be exorcised by specialized priests
Back to the calm in Jegu.
Ayu and some friends sing in front of the house
Joged Bumbung again, another baby is three months old
The dancer dances with the grandmother first
The young mother with her baby
The young father with his photo camera
A few days later, in the Pura Alit (small temple) of Bendul.
Each dancer represents a god or goddess.
She seems to embrace her and talk to her
Dewa Bagus and Dewa Gading are scheming
Mangku Dewi, the chief priest, comes to see what's happening
"Irang, is she the one who's teasing you ?"
"Leave her alone!"
None of your business, go up to your place!
"Film me !"
You want a drink, grandfather?
Here!
Here! Your dinner !
Offerings are taken back home.
Fruits and cakes will be eaten,
the house will be blessed by sprinkling with holy water received here
and the rest is thrown as garbage...