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Rucina Ballinger has been involved in
Balinese performing arts since 1973. One of
the founders of Gamelan Sekar Jaya (based in
California), she performed with them as a
dancer for many years. Currently she performs
with Luh Luwih, an all women’s Balinese
theatrical and music group. In conjunction
with I Wayan Dibia, she has written a book on
the performing arts of Bali,
Balinese Dance, Music and Drama,
which came out in December 2004 (Singapore:
Periplus Editions/Berkeley Books).
Her day job is as CEO of YKIP (Humanitarian
Foundation for Mother Earth), a charity which
is involved with education and health projects
on Bali (www.ykip.org)
as well as working with the victims of the
Bali bombings. Married to a Balinese, she is
fully integrated into both the village and
intellectual communities on the island and
feels equally comfortable making offerings for
a cremation, as she does discussing the impact
of tourism with Bali’s cultural elite. |
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Anak Agung Gede Putra Rangki was born
in Bali in l956 as the second son of noble
parents in Abianbase, a small village north of
Denpasar. As a child, he went to schools far
from his village and for university went to
school in the neighboring island of Java
(where he majored in English). His training
then took him to Kalimantan where he taught
English to Indonesians and to Galang Island,
where a special program for Vietnamese
refugees was created to assist them in
relocating to the United States.
Upon returning to Bali in l985, he worked with
the Academic Semester Abroad program from the
US, where university undergraduates come to
Bali to study for a semester. He was the
language teacher and cultural consultant on
this program for five years. In l989, he
started the first Elderhostel program in
Indonesia with his American-born wife,
Rucina Ballinger. This program is a
three-week study program where participants
study and explore Indonesian culture in
depth. Concurrent with this, he and Rucina
have run a number of month long study programs
for American university students.
Agung has worked with a number of radio (BBC)
and TV (CNN, ABC Australia, Discovery Channel
and BBC) crews as a location manager/fixer.
In l997 he built the one and a half hectare
grounds of Rangki, a palace of carving and
natural landscaping. Here performances,
workshops, lectures, book launchings and
special dinners are held for groups. |
Tour Description