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Tunas Mekar encourages anyone who is interested in attending the
Ramayana Ballet on May 17 at Cleo's in Denver to call 303-433-3782
and reserve your tickets today. We have sold almost half the hall's
capacity in advance, and anticipate a sold-out concert. Thanks to
everyone for your tremendous support!



THE RAMAYANA BALLET

An Ancient Myth Comes To Life in the Modern Age


Love and loyalty, hatred and jealousy, justice and revenge -
has the world changed much over the centuries? Come hear Prince
Rama's story-Bali style-and his desire for peace in a world of
conflict on Saturday, May 17th, 7:30 PM, at the Cleo Parker Robinson
Dance Theatre.

Thanks in part to a grant from the Denver SCFD, nine
authentic Balinese dancers will dramatize a portion of the Ramayana
story (the entire story would take many hours to tell), five of whom
will be visiting from Los Angeles and Chicago, and four who are
family members of Artist-In-Residence, I Made Lasmawan. Lasmawan
lives in Colorado Springs and teaches at Colorado College and
throughout the Rocky Mountain region. The dancers include: Ni Ketut
Marni, Ni Nyoman Erawati, Ni Sagung Mirah Kertayuda, I Gusti Ngurah
Kertayuda, I Wayan Susila, I Nyoman Cerita, Ni Sagung Chika
Kertayuda, I Putu Tankas Adi Mayena and I Made Tangkas Ade Wijaya.

Other program pieces include Pak Lasmawan's newest
composition "Subak," the "Kebyar Trompong" dance, and "Catur Angurit."

This promises to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. You can
witness the Ramayana Ballet on May 17th, 7:30 PM, at the Cleo Parker
Robinson Dance Theatre, 119 Park Avenue West. Tickets for this
one-night-only event are $15 general admission and $10 for seniors,
students and children 12 and under. Seating is limited. Tickets may
be purchased in advance by calling (303) 433-3782. For more
information visit http://www.tunasmekar.org or call (303) 433-3782.

How did Denver come to host the premier of this extraordinary
evening of music and dance? For fifteen years, Denver's own gamelan
(an Indonesian orchestra of percussive and melodic instruments) has
been presenting concerts to the public after consistent and focused
weekly rehearsals under a Balinese Artist-In-Residence. The Ramayana
Ballet is the culmination of another concerted effort to present
high-quality cross-cultural productions of Balinese music and dance.
Cross-cultural? The Ramayana is an ancient myth told in many Asian
countries - Indonesia included. Bali is the only Hindu island in the
largely Islamic nation.

Thank you to our sponsors including Denver's Mayor Wellington
Webb and the Denver Mayor's Office of Art, Culture and Film; Synergy
Media group (http://www.synergymediagroup.net); Thai Association of
Colorado; Ibu Phyllis Tremmel, "Mother" of the gamelan tradition in
the Rocky Mountain Region; and Ten Thousand Villages, Denver
(http://www.villages.ca, click on "stores" then search "co" for
address/directions and upcoming events). Without there support, this
performance would not have been possible.



Gamelan Tunas Mekar, founded in 1988, is a group of 20 musicians from
Denver, Boulder and Colorado Springs. Balinese gamelan music is
highly rhythmic, utilizing various gongs, drums and metallophones, or
gangsas, (bronze bars suspended over bamboo resonators and struck
with a wooden mallet). Bamboo flutes, or sulings, embellish the
melodies of the metallophones, which are encased in ornate
hand-carved jackfruit wood. The large semaradana orchestra is
actually two orchestras in one and has to be heard to be believed.
The root of the word gamelan means 'to hammer', and it is truly
powerful and exciting to hear 20 people 'hammer' heavy bronze bars in
synchronized rhythms and accompanied by the sweet sound of bamboo
flute, singing - Bali style - and grounded by large gongs.