Cultural mission hopes to lure Japanese back to Bali

Cultural mission hopes to lure Japanese back to Bali

I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali

Bali has lost a great many tourists in the aftermath of the Oct.
12 terrorist attacks in the Kuta beach resort. Now, the holiday
island is doing anything it can to woo back visitors.

As part of the bid, 18 local performing artists will leave for
Japan in the middle of this month. In their luggage are also 50
paintings by Balinese children that will put on exhibit during
the tour.

The cultural mission aims at sending the message to Japan,
which traditionally accounts for the largest number of tourists
visiting Bali, that the island is safe to visit.

"When snow starts showering Tokyo this month we will be there
to tell them that there is a warm and friendly place, both
literally and metaphorically, for them -- Bali," the event
coordinator Priya Dharsana told The Jakarta Post.

It will not be an easy job for both Priya and Made Wiratni, a
successful businesswoman-turned patron of children events, to
convey the message.

The bombing killed more than 190 people and virtually sent the
tourist industry -- the island's economic backbone -- into a
spiraling decline.

Wiratni said that in fact the cultural mission was conceived
even before the attack.

"Several hotels and restaurants had expressed their
willingness to sponsor this event. And then the bomb devastated
everything. After the explosion, I did not have the heart to
contact the prospective sponsors, let alone to ask them for
sponsorship. They already have a huge problem -- the future of
their employees and their businesses -- to deal with," Wiratni
said.

When they had almost decided to cancel the event, chief of the
Bali Tourism Authority I Gde Pitana Brahmananda summoned Ratni to
his office to look to other sources for funding.

"The event will be a good opportunity for us to show the world
that the terrible tragedy has failed to destroy us, that life in
Bali goes on," Pitana said.

"Fortunately, assistance began flowing in. Governor Dewa Made
Beratha offered substantial amount, and then Singapore Airlines
gave us nearly a 50 percent discount for the airfares," Ratni
said.

The event will consist mainly of a painting exhibition, in
which 50 paintings of 40 Balinese children will be displayed in
Tokyo from Dec. 15 to Dec. 23.

The paintings have been selected from the works of Balinese
children participating in the weekly Let's Paint program.

Organized by the Denpasar-based children foundation Rare
Angon, weekly tabloid Lintang, and the municipality of Denpasar,
the weekly event started in 1999.

Over the last three years, the event organizers have collected
some 10,000 paintings. The 50 paintings to be displayed in Japan
were selected by noted Balinese painters Nyoman Erawan, Made
Budhiana and Supena.

"The selected paintings are expected to be able to help build
an intimate sense of brotherhood between Balinese and Japanese
children," Priya said.

Two child painters fifth-grader Gusti Ayu Pradnyaasih, 10,
from Tabanan regency and sixth-grader Ida Ayu Candradewi, also
10, from Denpasar will represent their fellow Balinese children
painters in Japan.

"They have been appointed because they are not only excellent
painters, but also good singers, and most importantly, because
they are accomplished Balinese dancers," Ratni said.

Pradnyaasih and Candradewi will perform the Balinese dance
Panyembrama before Japanese children in a series of workshops at
the playground Kodomono Siro on Dec. 15, Sakuragaoka elementary
school on Dec. 17 and Dizumi elementary school on Dec. 18.

They will also play the heavenly nymphs Legong during the
modern dance-drama Ritus Legong (the Rite of Legong) in the hall
of Tokyo FM on Dec. 20 and Dec. 21.

The dance-drama was choreographed and directed by Kadek
Suardana, the head of the ARTI Foundation troupe.

Drawing inspiration from the sacred Legong dance and the
Balinese Hindu's purification rituals, Suardana will perform
Ritus Legong to show his concern for the grave threat the
Balinese cultural values are facing.

The troupe will also perform a modern adaptation of the
traditional Calonarang dance drama, a terrifying fight between
black and white magic powers, at Nichigei University on Dec. 16,
Suardana said.

The cultural mission will wind up on Dec. 23.