Freelancers: Independent Professional Performers of Bali

Abstract

This paper explores the precedents for a relatively new way of working in the Balinese performing arts scene, and offers an alternative view of the agency of performers. Both within and beyond traditional and modern modes of patronage and sponsorship, we see a general drive towards the professionalisation of the arts, as well as the emergence of outstanding individual artists, directors and performers who travel beyond established roles. In the present economic climate, most Balinese performers work as freelancers by default, but this context has also spawned a small number of individuals who have found ways to work outside or on the margins of the institutional frameworks of village and state and make their names via international stages.

Notes

¹I would like to thank Matthew I. Cohen, whose input to the formulation of this article has been invaluable. The following article offers some preliminary thoughts and the basis for further research into Balinese responses to difference and professional success in the performing arts.

²See Hough (2000), Hughes-Freeland (2001), and Noszlopy (2002).

³This said, most of ISI's senior faculty have foreign (usually US) postgraduate qualifications, suggesting a further educational stratification based on networking skills mentioned above.

⁴See Vickers (1989: Chapter Three) for more details on European-Balinese interactions and cross-influencing during this period.

⁵While ‘cultural diplomacy’ has been prevalent in Indonesia for some time, Picard (1996a: 177) claims that the idea was officially coined in 1983 to bolster the tourism industry after a fall in oil revenues.

⁶Perhaps the most common complaint from students at ISI Denpasar is that faculty are often absent from teaching duties for extended periods, usually as a result of foreign tours or scholarship opportunities at overseas institutions.

⁷Sometimes ngayah offers some minimal economic reward, but this would be more like expenses than a fee. Food, drink and help with funding transportation are usually provided, but many suggest that the social pressure to provide these services for free or for minimal remuneration sometimes leads to ill-feeling.

⁸On I Dewa Alit and Cudamani, see Noszlopy 2002: 45–52 and Tenzer 2000: 110–19. I Wayan Dibia often works overseas in both academic and non-academic settings.

⁹This material was used in a joint essay by Nabeshima and Noszlopy (2006). My thanks to Kadek Suardana, Mari Nabeshima and Sheila Crude, editor of Seleh Notes, for permission to reuse parts of it.

¹⁰Members included Dewa Gede Palguna (legal and political expert), Wayan Juniartha (journalist at the Jakarta Post), Fajar Arcana (Kompas journalist), Mas Ruscita Dewi (Bali Post journalist), Ketut Yuliarsa (poet), Nyoman Erawan (artist), Putu Satria (director of the modern theatre group Kampung Seni Banyuning in north Bali), and Putri Suastini (a popular MC at the time). Others active in the field of the traditional arts today, such as Gede Asnawa, Made Sidia, Gusti Sudarta, Gusti Lanang, Ketut Lanus, were also variously involved in the group's activities, either as actors, dancers, composers or musicians.