BALI'S KECAK DANCE

Kecak (pronounced: /'ke.tʃak/, roughly "KEH-chahk", alternate spellings: Ketjak and Ketjack), a form of Balinese music drama, originated in the 1930s and is performed primarily by men. Also known as the Ramayana Monkey Chant, the piece, performed by a circle of 100 or more performers wearing checked cloth around their waists, percussively chanting "cak" and throwing up their arms, depicts a battle from the Ramayana where the monkey-like Vanara helped Prince Rama fight the evil King Ravana. However, Kecak has roots in sanghyang, a trance-inducing exorcism dance.[1]Kecak was originally a trance ritual accompanied by male chorus. German painter and musician Walter Spies became deeply interested in the ritual while living in Bali in the 1930s and worked to recreate it into a drama, based on the Hindu Ramayana and including dance, intended to be presented to Western tourist audiences. This transformation is an example of what James Clifford describes as part of the "modern art-culture system"[2] in which, "the West or the central power adopts, transforms, and consumes non-Western or peripheral cultural elements, while making 'art' which was once embedded in the culture as a while, into a separate entity."[3] Spies worked with Wayan Limbak and Limbak popularized the dance by traveling throughout the world with Balinese performance groups. These travels have helped to make the Kecak famous throughout the world.

Lesson Plan

Level: Form 4 (Intermediate – advanced)
Time: 40 minutes
Aims: To be able to locate specific information on a Website and to be able to practise writing.
Technical Requirements:
One computer for each pair of students equipped with an Internet connection and a Web Browser.
Website: www.horoscopes.com
Preparation:
1. Trace a suitable site about astrology specifically horoscopes.
2. Using the information about basics of astrology on the site, prepare a worksheet.
Procedure:
1. Ask students to sit in pairs and share a computer.
2. Ask the students if they usually read horoscopes, and believe in the readings.
3. Ask the students if they can remember the entire star signs i.e. Leo, Aries, etc.
4. Browse the website chosen together with the students and show them what the website offers.
5. Provide the prepared worksheet to each student. The worksheet contains two activities. Ask the students to do Activity 1 first. The first activity is to be done in pairs.
6. Explain to the students that they need to fill in the tables provided in the worksheet.
7. Explain to the students that the information needed is to be searched on www.horoscopes.com.
8. Demonstrate using the website and give an example to search for the information.
9. Discuss the answers with the class and explain unfamiliar words or phrases.
10. Ask students if they had any problems while using the website.
11. Using the details filled in the tables in Activity 1, ask students to select a star sign according to their own birth date.
12. Then ask the students to do Activity 2 which is provided in the worksheet. The students need to the activity individually.
13. The activity asks the students to describe in one page of the similarities or differences between their personalities to the qualities of their star signs filled in the tables in Activity 1 before.