This year 2007 Nusa Dua Fiesta has been announced by Bali Tourism Development Corporation (BTDC) as October 18-21, 2007 centered at the Peninsula Island at Nusa Dua. This fiesta will present traditional arts performances from Bali as well as other provinces across the Indonesian archipelago.

Nusa Dua is one of Bali’s best-known tourist area and home to famous resort such as Grand Hyatt Bali,  Melia Bali Villas & Spa Resort, Novotel Nusa Dua Hotel & Residence, etc.

Penjor’s, Bali at the Galungan day
Originally uploaded by J.E.S..

At 29 of November, we, the Balinese was celebrating Galungan day, it occur every 210 days on Balinese calendar system. Galungan mean “the day of the winning of Dharma (the Good) agains the evil.

I went to my hometown at the west side of Bali to celebrate that important day with my family. A day or two before the celebration, Balinese will start to make preparation of offering including penjor, the best part of the Galungan day is to prepare for original Balinese salad called Lawar, Lawar is differ by location, in Negare (that’s the name of my little town in west Bali) Lawar made from young coconut, very delicious.　Well I am sure now I’ve already gaining weight . In the celebration day, it’s the time for us and all the villager to visit the Puseh Temple where located in every village in Bali. Actually there are three temple where every man must visit, the Merajan (house shrine), Pura Dalem, and Pura Puseh. The last visit was Jagatnatha in the centre of Town. The most important thing of all is the moment with my family, and friends at the village, priceless.

I am sorry I have no picture of this moment, I have to concentrate on my pray, and so lazy to go back again. The weather was so hot at that time.

After 10 days after Galungan, the Kuningan day will follow, but as usual I just pray in Denpasar used to be in Sakenan Temple, I will make sure I will have my camera with me to show you the Sakenan temple looks like.

legong dance
Originally uploaded by l_i_u_0.

The Legong dance might be the most interesting and graceful dance in the island, A legong is a girl, a young girl not older than early teens. According to the legend, this dance was inspired by the imagination of a king in 19 century. Others said that Legong was inspired by the dream of a King about goddess, the King then search the entire kingdom to find dance gurus and train them hard to make the dream close to reality.

The Legong Dance is a classic dance that has a very complex library of movement that flow along with gamelan. The word “Legong” is from the word “leg” mean elastic, elegance, and the word “gong” mean the music, so the Leg - Gong is a dance represents the epitomy of grace and femininity. The dancer has to let all the energy of the gamelan’s sounds flow to their body untill you feel shaking. The hands are the most mesmerizing, as the arms move up and about, the fingers are doing a dance of their own. They can make individual pairs of fingers flutter simultaneously, at the same time, the eyes are darting from left to right.

The story behind legong is very stylized and symbolic, involves three dancers, the two legong and their attendant, the congong. The legongs are beautifully dressed tightly with gold brocade that so surprising they can move so rapidly.

You can find Legong dance performance every Monday and Sunday nights at 7:30pm at the Puri Saren Palace Ubud.