Music and Dance of Bali

On April 30, Green Street Arts Center will host an evening of Balinese music and dance with traditional Balinese ensembles Gamelan Dharma Swara of New York City, and Balinese Angklung of Wesleyan University.

Dharma Swara studies a variety of forms, from ancient dances once performed to entertain the rajas in their palaces, to the loud and virtuosic repertoire of the contemporary kebyar ensemble and experimental seven-tone works performed on the newly created gamelan semara dana. For more information visit http://www.dharmaswara.org/. Dharma Swara is comprised of about 40 individuals who come from a variety of academic, professional, and artistic backgrounds. For this concert we are joined by Shoko Yamamuro, dance coordinator for Gamelan Dharma Swara, Noopur Singha, and students of Wesleyan’s Balinese Dance class led by Urip Sri Maeny.

Wesleyan’s Balinese Gamelan Angklung group performs under the direction of Gamelan Dharma Swara’s music and education coordinator Peter Steele. Steele is a musician, scholar and composer working primarily on Balinese Gamelan music, which he teaches at Wesleyan. He has an M.A. in ethnomusicology from the University of British Columbia, focusing on compositional developments in contemporary Balinese music. He is also an active performer and composer and has had several of his works performed by Balinese ensembles at the annual Bali Arts festival.

Music and Dance of Bali takes place on Friday, April 30 at 7pm at the Green Street Art’s Center, located at 51 Green Street in Middletown. Admission costs $10 for non-members; $8 for members, students, and seniors; $5 for Wesleyan Staff, Students and Faculty w/ID. For more information or to purchase tickets call 860-685-7871 or visit www.greenstreetartscenter.org.