Date: Mon, 29 May 2006 10:24:53 -0700
To: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Ecology/Wayang of the Ten Sacred Thing


Anyone interested in reading more on I Made Sidia's Wayang 
Dasanamakerta (AKA wayang skateboard) might look for Asian Theatre 
Journal 22, 1 "Theatre in a Time of Terrorism: Renewing Natural 
Harmony after the Bali Bombing via Wayang Kontemporer"  by I Nyoman 
Sedana which I edited (it is available on the web through JSTOR and 
other academic journal data bases.

The beginning point for the performance was initiated long before the 
Bali bomb by Sidia's dad who is one of the most important puppeteers 
of the older generation.  While at a conference in Europe a number of 
years ago Sidja conceived of a puppet show which would focus on the 
ecological balance of the world as a core issue--a response to the 
overbuilding of the tourist industry then rampant on Bali and some of 
the corruption that allowed the rich to bulldoze tradition and the 
poor in the process.  So Sidja conceived of a puppet genre that would 
deal with the ten sacred things from plants to animals to the human 
and divine that had to harmonize for the ecology of life and spirit 
to balance.  It is not survival of the fittest but the responsibility 
of the steward that Sidja emphasized.

Sidia, his son, recycled this idea when he was invited to do some 
shows in the schools and at Kuta as part of a program to relieve 
post-tramatic stress after the bombing in 2002.  It is interesting 
that instead of focusing on anger and "who did what to whom?" that 
Sidia asked people to look at the big picture.  "What is out of whack 
that this terrorism happens?" was the question he chose to address. 

For him ecological degradation, religious turf wars, political finger 
pointing that pit people against each other were all part of a common 
problem--loss of balance between these ten elements that make up the 
cosmos.  He thought puppetry could help people cut through the mess 
and see what was happening because in the little world we can see the 
great world clearly and whole.

  If Sidia  had his way the headline would be "Puppet Shows Save the 
World." That might be an nice act  for all puppeteers to try to 
follow. 

-- 
Kathy Foley
Professor, Theatre Arts
Editor, Asian Theatre Journal
J-15 Theatre Arts
1156 High St.
Santa Cruz, CA 95064
  tel. (831) 459-4189
fax (831) 459-3552
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