Bali & Beyond—a company of Los Angeles-based performing artists inspired by the cultures of Indonesia, led by music director Cliff DeArment and Maria Bodmann—celebrates two of the most ancient performing arts traditions in the world, presenting the shimmering polyrhythms of gamelan music, performed on traditional bronze bar instruments, drums, flutes, and gongs, and the entrancing art of wayang kulit (shadow puppet theater).  A variety of styles of gamelan will be introduced, followed by a dance of the Tree of Life and a parade of flickering characters, shadows cast by the figures manipulated by Maria Brodmann, the dalang (shadow artist), whose work has been called “graceful, bewitching, irresistible” by the Los Angeles Times.  The audience is then invited to peer behind the scenes to see how the magic is achieved, followed by a shadow performance)—complete with traditional singing, music, narration, and action)—unfolding like a shared communal dream.

Performers include:  Mike Pievac, Dave Shaffer, Barry Newton and Ryan McCarty