Bali & Society

After reading the article about the Social System of Bali, I have some thoughts. One thing that makes more sense now is the relationship or perhaps rather the reverence Rama's people had for him and his father as royalty. It seemed a bit contrived for the kingdom's people to be so concerned for the king's and Rama's welfare. They were TOO devoted in my opinion to the point it seemed ridiculously unrealistic. However, it seems that tying oneself to a liege lord or prince is one of the three essential social bonds for the Balinese, and that they truly "love their lords." Perhaps it was a more factual representation of the feelings people had for their ruler that I had previously thought. Of course, this would be the case as long as the ruler fulfilled their responsibility to the people (and took care of them).

As well, I further realized how Western and Balinese societies are incredibly different. This is probably due to a fundamental difference in where our identity comes from. For the most part, Westerners believe that one's identity is relatively innate, that you are born with a personality, and interests, and that usually only incredible shocks or tragedies will fundamentally change you. However, in Bali, your identity is given to you by your society, where what your environment requires of you is what you will ultimately embrace and determines who you are. This is evident by your caste, which cannot be changed (for the most part) and the expectation that an individual embraces their caste's role. Because of this difference in ideology I (predictably) find the caste system to be oppressive. I feel that the humans must be free to realize who they are, or even just change who they are and should be able to pursue interests, relationships, and careers freely, regardless of caste or even gender. Just the opportunity, which would not necessitate a complete paradigm shift, would be enough to satisfy my expectation of freedom.

Of course, if this sort of social system was fully embrace by the people, and that anomalies did not arise (such as, a person who aspired for a function not appropriated to their caste), then this would work just as well or better than any other social system. If the people embraced their responsibilities, understood the necessity and appreciated the work done by the other castes, and women understood and enjoyed their role and men theirs and they both appreciated the work done by the other, then this system would work very well. However, I don't know that this happens. Your identity is not dependent on you or your actions, where, typically, in Western societies, your identity, and especially your worth, is determined by your actions and merit.

However, I do like the closeness of the community. I do believe in community accountability, however as societies value individualism more and more, the community becomes less and less important. Bali communities seem to have a healthy system of education, responsibility, and looks after the enrichment of the people, by providing services for children, for their neighbors, and for those in need. In this respect, it's very wonderful! However, it is very adverse to change. Some may argue that there is no need for change, and some respects this may be true, but it is in my opinion that different times calls for a different way of doing things. Especially in respect to advances in technology and realizing (valid) social equality.

Okay, well, I think that is all for now. This is a personal opinion based on my own preferences for a society.

Practice

This past weekend I tried practicing our dance movements (the ones that we do in the beginning of class), and it was difficult. I'm not a very coordinated person, so I kept struggling to move fluidly from one movement to the next. I started by breaking down the movements, and then adding hands. Then I would try to speed it up and keep my movements going for many repetitions. Eventually, I was able to keep dancing without messing up for about 8 reps of the entire dance, which was really good! My major problem now is trying to smile and dance with intention the entire time. I am always thinking a lot about it so I think I come off looking a bit stiff. I guess I will have to keep practicing.

I also tried moving like Rama and Lakshmana, however, I didn't have a cup so I put a book on my head. In many ways, I thought balancing with a book was easier (it stayed on longer than the cup did!), mostly because it was not as light as a plastic cup. That is a really fun exercise! It requires concentration, it allows for a little competition (can I get the book to stay on longer? How far and fast can I move without letting it fall?), and before you know it, you're getting better! I hope my improvement shows in our classes this week.

When I look at our gurus dance, I am impressed at how beautiful the movements are. They are both graceful and strong at the same time, a combination I'm not accustomed to seeing. I hope that I can dance with a similar beauty by the end of the semester.

Rough!

Well, I haven't been to class much; this semester I had an explosion of work I wasn't prepared for and on top of that I was sick for over a week. I am so ashamed for my absence. Even if I'm overwhelmed with work, it's counter productive to not go to class. In any case, I will regularly be going to all of my classes, especially Asian Performance. I'm am genuinely very excited to learn dancing!

One thing I HAVE been keeping up with is reading the Ramayana. What a wonderful story! From the beginning I have loved the stories. When I read it, it feels as if I'm reading the history of an age before our time, one that fully existed before the magic and spirits suddenly disappeared from this world. It's the type of feeling I get when reading Greek stories, especially the story of Homer, or other tales about gods and goddesses. It's like a time gone by.

I think one of the most interesting things is how much the men cry in the Ramayana. A friend of mine, studied abroad in India, and she said that the men are much more apt to of more comfortable to cry than the average Western man. I watched an Indian movie (I believe it was called, "Lage Raho Munna Bhai") and the men cried a few times, and these were guys were portrayed as supposed to being strong, manly men.

What is most beautiful about the Ramayana is the love between the characters, and the understanding of this love, especially from Rama, despite the effects of fate. For instance when Kaikeyi was poisoned by Manthara, Rama knew how much his "mother" actually loved him, and her actions were not her own. And he tries to help the rest of his family understand what has truely happened, and help the others understand his dharma. There seems to be no evil from the characters and are only from demons and such! I kind of diminishes the amount of tension, but it's also kind of beautiful. On a random note, I wonder where the idea that blue skin signifies divinity comes from.

Welcome to My Blog

On the first day of my "Asian Performance" class, our class was instructed to write what our expectations of the class were, why we took it, and anything else that was on our mind. That, apparently, was the first post of a blog we would have to create for our class.

This blog is for that class and will serve as my "thought dump" where I will put whatever I want that I don't mind sharing with other people.

The following is what I wrote on my first day:

"I'm excited to start this class I came in because I need to fulfill GER 6, but the passion and commitment to the style of dance and storytelling that the professor has makes me want to learn right away! I want to be a very good student and do well; I only hope that my nervousness and self-consciousness does not hinder my willingness to throw myself into the Indian/Indonesian dance. I hope I will be graceful. I hope, also, that the other students try hard, not go through the motions or treat this class as a joke.

"I will stay in this class because I want to learn something beautiful about another culture; an old, ancient and rich culture. If I must spend time on GER 6, then I want to get the most that I can out of it. I know I will do that here more than being in '2-D Fundamentals' or 'Theater 101' or 'Creative Writing.'"