Negotiating the Global and Local in Balinese Performing Arts
“Discovered” by European and North American luxury tourists in the 20th century, Bali has long epitomized the “exotic” in the Western imagination. Today, cultural tourism thrives alongside a generation of modern composers and performing artists who regularly collaborate with foreign artists while pushing Balinese performing arts into new and innovative directions. Students will take one class that examines the processes of cultural globalization and the various ways in which the Balinese have negotiated foreign influences in their performing arts traditions, maintaining a sense of history and culture while adapting to modern times. Students will also learn to play the Balinese gamelan orchestra, an ensemble of bronze gongs, xylophones, and chimes, and dance instruction will also be available to those interested. The program will overlap with the first half of the Bali Arts Festival in Denpasar, a world-famous exposition and competition among the island’s most talented performers.
The 2012 Dialogue will offer the following courses:
MUSC 3501 Negotiating the Local and Global in Balinese Performing Arts
Learn about the arts of music, dance, and theater in Bali, an island with a thriving culture that has been the focus of foreign attention since the tourism industry developed there in the 1930s. The course explores the ways that Balinese incorporate, reject, or transform foreign influences into their deeply historical and vital performing arts traditions.
NU Core credit: Comparative Study of Cultures, Experiential Learning
Music Major credit: HT4, other elective
Ethnomusicology minor credit: Capstone, Seminar in Ethnomusicology
Non-Music major credit: varies by department, please inquire
MUSC 2502 Balinese Performing Arts: Music or Dance
This is an applied course in which you will follow one of two tracks of instruction: the Balinese gamelan orchestra, or traditional Balinese dance. Taught by local artists, the experience of learning to perform Balinese gamelan and dance will be complemented by attending local performances and temple festivals. There will be some short, written assignments and a final performance at the end of the program.
NU Core credit: Experiential Learning, Arts/Humanities 1
Music Major credit: ensemble, other elective
Ethnomusicology minor credit: elective
Non-Music major credit: varies by department, please inquire