Over the last 2 weeks, 2 schools on the south coast were extremely fortunate to have met Pak Ida Bagus Sudana & his 19 year old daughter, Trisna. Their visit was coordinated entirely by Pak Nyoman from APBIPA and as usual our visitors were perfect Indonesian ambassadors who supported the Indonesian Language program beautifully.
For me, the event that blew me away was the privilege of watching Trisna prepare for Tari Puspanjali (the welcome dance). The entire time I was taking photos, I wanted to pinch myself. Having Trisna all to myself to photograph! How rare is that – being able to watch a dancer prepare for a dance? In Indonesia, she would have been surrounded by family and friends all helping, here all she had was her father and me, although my expertise was limited to doing up a few safety pins!
Here are just a few of the photos I took:

Trisna then put her jacket back on as it was quite chilly and then began applying her makeup:

Once the makeup was completed to her satisfaction, Trisna put her runners back on and we headed to class. There waiting for us was the year 4 class who were also blown away by Trisna’s finery and beauty.
We talked briefly about the dance and the costume and then Trisna led the class through the beginning of the dance. I was very keen for my students to experience themselves attempting the dance because I remember all too well just how hard it is to do from my ELF experience last January in Bali. The dance looks so slick but it isn’t till you dance yourself that it becomes clear just how many difficult aspects there are that need coordinating.