Dell'Arte Abroad: Bali

Bali – an extraordinary island where creativity is ordinary

MAY 22 - JUNE 15 2023

Art serves the community of Bali, its religious practices, its economy and is inseparable from everyday living. This program is designed for those who want to participate in the family and ceremonial life of outstanding Balinese master teachers, during an intensive study month. The Dell’Arte Abroad: Bali program is open to actors, musicians, designers, dancers, mask-makers, directors, teachers, and anyone who is interested in the Balinese culture and performing arts. For nearly 20 years, Dell'Arte's Balinese faculty have been leading participants through a truly unique experience, authentically exploring Balinese performing arts in their homes and communities. Our Bali program is like no other in terms of our long-standing relationship as a teaching collective.

APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN

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Dell Arte Bali Program from Malcolm DeSoto on Vimeo.

The Program

THE BALI EXPERIENCE

You will be welcomed at our beautiful accommodations just outside of Ubud after you arrive. The program begins with a traditional Balinese dinner, followed by three days of orientation to the language, customs, and ceremonies of Bali, as well as informal meetings with Balinese teachers to observe their work. Our program Co-Director will introduce the concept of Canang Sari (offerings) and teach participants how to participate in this aspect of Balinese life leading classes on how to make one of the many intricate floral offerings yourself. Orientation will also include a symposium on masks at the home of I.B Anom, visits to the studios of several mask carvers and puppet makers, and attendance at the famous kecak, or monkey-chant dance, by firelight. During the three and a half weeks of formal study, classes meet five days a week. Sometimes our study will take place in a classroom setting, sometimes outdoors, and most often in its traditional setting at village and temple ceremonies.

STUDY AND RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES

In addition to their core area of study, all students are invited to participate in daily morning warm-ups and classes led by both invited guests and the program leaders. The morning classes will focus on western mask performance, community-based arts education and ensemble theatrical practices. Organized symposiums on the links between Balinese and western mask performance traditions will take place. We will also travel to the village of Sukawati for an intensive on Wayang Kulit (shadow puppetry) led by a master Dalang (puppet master). Wayang kulit is the traditional art of storytelling through shadow puppets, performed by firelight. The puppet master is a combination of priest, storyteller, therapist, actor, and improviser, who manipulates and voices dozens of puppets in one play.

All along there will be time for recreation such as mountain hiking, beaches, scuba, nightlife and shopping for traditional Balinese crafts. Massage and revitalizing body treatments are available at extremely low cost. Our program leaders are happy to assist you in making plans to visit other areas of the island and arrange unique excursions for you with their breadth of knowledge and experience.

We know you won’t want to leave, but we also will have a closing celebration with our teachers and a final dinner to send participants off with a certificate of completion from Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre and memories to last a lifetime.

CULTURAL IMMERSION

Due to the sacred nature of most Balinese arts and the complete intertwining of daily life with ritual, this program can be an opportunity to deepen an internal connection to your own artistic practice, as well as to take inspiration for creative projects. In past years we have been invited to both public and private ceremonies–weddings, cremations, blessings of masks and puppets, temple anniversaries, and coming-of-age ceremonies.

Respectful attendance at their ceremonies is welcomed by the Balinese people, whose religion is Hindu with Buddhist influences. Since the program’s inception in 1996, we have participants from all over the world including Norway, England, Korea, Canada, Mexico City, Spain, Sweden, Holland, India, USA and others.

Core Areas of Study

PRINCIPLE FIELDS OF COURSEWORK

The core of the program is designed so that each student spends a large percentage of their class time on an area of interest most important to them, and we offer the following options:

MASK CARVING
BALINESE DANCE (TOPENG AND/OR WOMEN’S DANCE)
KECAK CHANTING

MASK CARVING

Learn from a Balinese master carver how to work with the wood, the traditional tools (axe, chisels, knives), and the paints to create traditional and contemporary masks. You may order and bring home your own complete set of tools. Students will spend 4 – 5 hours daily in the home of their teacher.

BALINESE DANCE

Your class day will include one hour of Balinese dance. Topeng is the name of the masked dance form performed at most Balinese ceremonies, or you may elect to study the powerful yet graceful dance forms of the women of Bali. You will work in the studio with a Balinese master teacher, learning the basic walks, postures, arm and head movements in the mask. Topeng is based on stock characters like the king, minister, clown, and you will have the opportunity to see it performed at village ceremonies during your studies. You may elect to take both dance classes for a small daily fee.

KECAK CHANTING

With roots in the religious trance-inducing exorcism dance, Kecak chanting is the complex layering of rhythmic vocals accompanied by movement performed in groups. Inspired by the sounds of nature heard especially in the quiet of the evening, the Kecak chant is a truly unique experience both to perform and witness. We will study the form with a group of Kecak chanters in a series of classes.

FINAL RECITAL AND COMMUNITY CELEBRATION

A final recital will be held to honor the work of our teachers and for participants to perform for the local community in an evening of festivities. A live gamelan orchestra will accompany participants in dance with the option to wear full Balinese costuming and make-up alongside their instructors, who truly enjoy this aspect of the performance!

Our Balinese Faculty

What's Included / Payment Details

2023 TUITION $3200.00 (Does not include airfare)

Price includes full breakfast daily, tuition, materials, orientation, and select performances and excursions.

Trip price is based on two persons sharing a room with two beds and private bath. Single room supplement $150. Single room occupancy is on a first come, first-served basis until all the rooms are filled, then only doubles will be available.

Air Tickets:

ARRIVE in Bali MAY 21 ; RETURN JUNE 16

Our travel agent can book your air ticket at the best rate at the time your payments are due. She can book tickets for you from other US, Canadian, or foreign cities for the additional cost of connecting flights—usually an extra $300 – $400 depending on the departure city. We can also book your return for up to 60 days after beginning of travel (additional visa is required you must secure beforehand). You may arrive a day or two earlier and depart a day later and we can arrange accommodation for you. As long as you fall within the 30 day visa time allotment.

TRIP COST INCLUDES:

Accommodations for 26 nights near Ubud, Bali’s artistic center, with full breakfast, swimming pool, gardens.
3 days of orientation, including visits to temples, markets, homes of master carvers, a kecak performance, language introduction
Seminars in customs and culture, masks, religion, etc.
Daily physical/vocal warm-ups/morning classes
19 days of full classes
Weekly kecak lessons
All class materials: wood, leather, use of tools, paints, etc.
Opening and farewell feasts
Participation in a final performance presentation
Attendance at village festivals, ceremonies
Assistance with sightseeing excursions, cooking classes, shopping, etc.
Services of teachers and Dell’Arte staff

NOT INCLUDED:

Visa fee (only required if you are extending your trip beyond 30 days), lunch & dinners and filtered water in rooms (if desired), extra sightseeing excursions, travel insurance with COVID protection, tips to hotel staff, transport to/from the airport (we can arrange) traditional clothing for ceremonies (we can arrange to lend you the proper clothing items required to attend a ceremony or show you where to buy them if you wish to keep them for a very reasonable price).

We can also arrange for you to have a personal scooter to ride while in Bali and offer a short introduction and lesson to get you equipped to ride. It is a wonderful way to get around the island!

PAYMENT DETAILS:

Applications require a $35 fee (refundable if program is full). The tuition for the program is $3200. and is due before April of 2023 with a $500 deposit due upon acceptance of your application. If accepted, you’ll need to reserve your place in the Bali Program with a $500 deposit. Credit cards, Paypal, and checks are all accepted. You can call the office at 668-5663 to use a credit card over the phone if you wish. Your place on the trip cannot be guaranteed until we have this deposit. .

All deposits, tuition and fees, less the $35 application processing fee and a $100 cancellation fee, are refundable until 75 days before the start of the trip.

No refunds after the first day of travel except in the event of a medical emergency.

Accommodations

Program Direction

Dayu Juni Newman (Ida Ayu Putu Sri Juniari Newman) (Co-Director)

The grand daughter of a Balinese High Priest (hence the appellation “Dayu”), Juni was born into a threadbare, but spiritually elevated family near Gianyar, Bali.Juni excelled at spoken language studies, leading to an early career as a Radio Announcer, M.C. and P.R. person for an alternative University; Campuan College, and a monthly magazine connecting visitors to Ubud with cultural events and lore.

After marrying Newman in 2009, the couple travelled, built a home and begat stellar twins; Rumi and Tulsi Newman.

These days Juni spends her days ( what’s left of them after full-time mothering), teaching Indonesian Language to foreigners, self-producing a renowned podcast of Folktales of the Archipelago, and presenting Balinese Theatre Arts to students worldwide.

During the CoVid Pandemic, Dayu Juni worked with Dell’Arte’s Janessa Johnsrude bringing Balinese Theatre Arts to inmates at Pelican Bay Prison in California.

Juni is also an authority on traditional textiles of Indonesia, and has combined handwoven and batik fabrics into modern clothing with her company; “Ancient Weft ”.

Janessa Johnsrude (Co-Director):

Janessa Johnsrude first traveled to Bali over a decade ago as a participant in Dell’Arte Abroad: Bali. After receiving her MFA in Ensemble-Based Physical Theatre from Dell’Arte, Janessa went on to become the Director of Innovations and Special Projects at the organization as well as a faculty member (specializing in community-based arts, character, cabaret, and storytelling) and touring resident artist. She became the Assistant Director of the Bali program in 2016. Janessa also directs Dell’Arte’s Prison Arts Theatre Program at Pelican Bay State Prison and has worked with artists experiencing incarceration on original projects and has led courses in theatre at the prison for the past 7 years. She holds a deep passion for community-based artistic engagement and will share her experience and teachings as part of the Bali program. As a physical theatre artist and producer, she has showcased original ensemble work around the world and specializes in eccentric physical character creation.

Newman (Co-Founder, Associate Director, Teacher):

Disillusioned with University Philosophy, Newman left England in the early seventies on a wild trek through the Greek Islands to Afghanistan and India, searching for the Meaning of Life, The Universe and Everything. Although less than completely illuminating, the trip did wash him up in Portland Oregon in 1974, where he hooked up with some cowboys and settled for studying Western Saddle Making.

A meeting with a remarkable mask made from leather in Portland, left him smitten and he started looking for a mask guru.

A whisper in his ear said: “Try Ubud, Bali !!”.

So in 1988, he flew to Bali and studied Mask Carving, Dance/Movement, Shadow Puppetry and Syncopated Chanting (Kecak). Infatuated, he returned to Ubud every winter for the next twenty years to continue his studies.

Realizing that Dell’Arte in Blue Lake was a short drive from his home base in Takilma, Oregon, Newman took a break from Bali one of those winters to join Joan Schirle, Donald Forest, Michael Fields and a still hanging in there Carlo Mazzone-Clementi for the D. A. Physical Theatre program.

Upon graduating Newman began to make and sell Leather Commedia Masks. Joan Schirle persuaded him to go study with Donato Sartori in Padova. Amazed at the commonalities in the Theatre Arts of Bali and Commedia Dell’Arte, Newman persuaded Joan to come with him to Ubud, with an eye to creating a study abroad program for physical theatre students.

In 1996 they came, they saw, Joan was impressed, and in 1999, the Dell’Arte International Study Abroad Program was born.

August 2009 Newman married Dayu Juni, and moved to Ubud permanently where he continues to make Leather Commedia Masks, write, and lecture about the common ground between Balinese Mask Theatre and the reborn Italian masked comedy Commedia Dell’Arte.

We remember the late co-founder and long-standing director of Dell’Arte Abroad: Bali, Joan Schirle. Joan stepped down from the program, handing it off to her long-time colleague and mentee, Janessa Johnsrude, the last year the program took place in 2020. Joan grew this program over her lifetime into an incredible experience and it was her wish for it to continue on with the Balinese faculty she developed close relationships with throughout the years. Her spirit will live on as we move forward in her honor and continue to develop this wonderful program for the next generation.