The Gamelan Cudamani performance that I watched was unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I honestly wouldn’t have thought to go see it if it wasn’t for this class but I’m glad I did. The performance was a collection of different dances and music played from various instruments I’ve never seen before. It first started with a few men playing from the instruments in a way that sort of didn’t make sense to me. Once they were done playing, a woman came out and explained the next three dances that were going to be performed. She explained how each one had their own story to it. These were traditional stories that had been passed down through generations. When the woman was done explaining, she sat down next to the men that played the instruments. A few women & men came out dressed in different outfits than everyone else. They were very colorful and beautiful. The people danced to the music and were telling the story through their eyes and movements. I noticed that even when their bodies weren’t moving, their fingers were. As they danced, the woman who explained the stories would start singing very loudly. They had two more dances after that, one that was similar to the first, and another that involved masks. The one with the masks was the most interesting to me. I thought that even though they were kind of scary, I was very intrigued as to what was going on.
Throughout the entire performance I thought to myself “Why would Professor Hocutt make us watch this?”. I had to think deeply about how these related to any of the keywords we talked about or just media, culture, and identity as a whole. The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. I don’t think it relates to media a whole lot but it definitely does with culture and identity. To start off, the dances, clothes, and music were all a part of their culture. They tried to show us in this performance what their culture looked like and where they came from in a creative way. Before this, I had no idea what Balinesian culture consisted of and I’m sure most people watching didn’t either. Therefore, I think they did a great job of encompassing what it’s all about and what they’re proud of. As far as identity, I think it sort of ties in with their culture. Being proud of where you came from is a way of identifying yourself. People who have no shame in practicing things within their culture, are more comfortable with their identity. They know who they are & where they come from and they’re not afraid to show that. From what I saw from the faces of the men performing on the instruments, they looked very happy to be there. It seemed as though they were content with themselves and what they were doing in that moment to embrace their culture & identity. For example, I’m half Croatian-half Bosnian and I consider it a part of my identity. My whole life I’ve been learning the culture and experiencing it first-hand and because of this I feel as though it’s become a part of my identity. With this performance, it made me happy to see people in the same position but coming from a different place.