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.