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Looking to the Future: Training a New Generation for Balinese Arja
- Asian Theatre Journal
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 31, Number 2, Fall 2014
- pp. 457-480
- 10.1353/atj.2014.0045
- Article
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Steady changes in Bali’s social, cultural, and political landscapes impact the status of the traditional performing arts, and globalization’s potentially stifling effect on the Balinese arts remains a concern. This article examines how today’s teachers of the operatic dance-drama arja modify traditional pedagogical models as they work with young performers in the context of globalization and change. It considers some of the implications of these technology-based adaptations, explores the teachers’ ideological motivations, and argues that training teenagers to perform this challenging genre is an effective tactic for reinforcing their sense of Balinese identity.