City trains a new generation of puppeteers in Bali

Ten-year-old Made Alit Widi Ari Adnyana and his friends seemed to enjoy playing the gender, a metallophone instrument, and other Balinese musical instruments for the shadow puppetry show.

They took turns to be the puppeteer, as their families watched them during a free training session in a room at Denpasar’s cultural agency building.

“I like being a puppeteer, because I enjoy performing in front of an audience and telling a story. I’m also making lots of new friends,” said fifth-grader Alit.

Ni Wayan Krisna Sanidhi Putri wanted to be a female puppeteer.

“My uncle enrolled me to join this free training after seeing a show with a child puppeteer,” said the 10-year-old girl.

“At first I just wanted to be a gender ensemble player, but now I want to be a puppeteer as well, and my trainer has taught me,” she said confidently.

Made Mudra, head of the cultural agency, said that 17 children, aged between five and 12, have joined the free puppetry training program during the past twelve months.

The program, which is open to all children in Denpasar who are interested in learning the art of puppetry, is aimed at nurturing their interest in local culture at an early age, as well as to facilitate the birth of a new generation of puppeteers in Bali.

To attract more participants, the agency has distributed information about the program to all kindergartens and elementary schools throughout the city but, so far, only 17 children have shown an interest.

“But we keep going with the training every Friday in our office. Four professional puppeteers from the Indonesian Puppeteer Union are ready to train the participants,” Mudra said, adding that the children were very enthusiastic to participate in training.

Those who are considered good enough will have the opportunity to perform at the Puputan Badung field or Jagadnatha Temple, with all facilities provided by the agency.

I Made Kembar, one of the trainers, said there were only 12 children on the program at first, but
several more children followed suit after watching a puppet show at Puputan Badung.

He also said that initially, some of the children just wanted to be ensemble players but later they wanted to be puppeteers, too.

“We teach all of them how to be a puppeteer and gamelan player. We have formed them into a group and we’re preparing them to perform in the next PKB (the annual Bali Arts Festival).”

“They may be the only child-puppeteer group performing at the festival. We will select one of them to perform the role of the puppeteer while the rest will form the music ensemble,” he said.

The regular performances at Puputan Badung or Jagadnatha offered the children the chance to see if they were confident enough to perform in front of a real audience, he said.

He added that the training is still open for children who want to participate. Any child aged over 12, interested in joining the training, would be trained as a teenage puppeteer and would be awarded a certificate .

The participant will receive a certificate after completing each one of three levels.

Kembar explained that there were some differences between Javanese and Balinese puppetry.

“Balinese shadow puppetry is only performed within religious ceremonies; therefore, the puppeteer should not impose set rates because this is not for commercial purposes,” Kembar said.