Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation made from a post originally written in French. My apologies for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have been generated during the process. If you are reading French, click on the French flag below to access the original and correct text:
Français I remain under the spell of Pemuteranthat I left on Monday for Amed. Almost a whole week spent diving and lizarding. And I did well to stay here until the end of the weekend. It allowed me to attend dance rehearsals and wedding ceremony preparations...
Under the spell of Pemuteran
I take away from Pemuteran the memory of superb underwater landscapes and radiant smiles. The welcome of the people here is simple and warm. Far, very far from the tourist-commercial harassment of Kuta or Lovina.
A parenthesis apart, during this Balinese stay. Absolute relaxation. With a serious question at the jump of the bed: what bathing suit will I wear today?
😂
The little dancers of Reef Seen
The diving center Reef Seen hosts and organizes, on Saturday and Sunday, dance classes for children. Many little girls, some little boys, and teenage girls.
Around 14h30-15h, we push the tables and chairs of the "debriefing bar" of the divers, which is then transformed into dance floor for the small bare feet of the girls.
And it is an infinitely graceful, touching spectacle to see them, more or less applied, trying to imitate the traditional dance gestures of the teacher.
→ See the video : Reef Seen Dancers
The small hips of the girls, encircled in the sarongs, somehow follow the rhythm of the gamelanYou will be able to hear the traditional Balinese percussion, recorded on a CD. You must also roll your eyes, sway your head from left to right, and push the delicacy of each gesture to the tips of your fingers, the precision of each step to the tips of your toes.
It's a change from the shows I usually cover in real life when I'm working... 😀 Here, no need for accreditation or a photo pass to get backstage and watch the little ones primping in front of the mirror, with a lot of makeup and hair extensions.
The final show, with the famous turtle dance, choregraphy created by Reef Seen please, is quite kitsch, with satin and gold costumes.
I applauded loudly, just to warm up the room and encourage the little artists. Fortunately, no hot "Vu" to write behind for the newspaper of the next day ... It changes me from work !!!
😉
Traditional wedding at the neighbors
On Sunday, I was invited to drink tea and taste some cakes at my neighbors', well, the family who owns the mini-market just behind the diving center bungalows. Reason: the son's wedding, with a girl from the next village. They made me sit at a long table in the backyard, with a lot of other people, in their sunday clothes, I mean in traditional sarong and turban.
It had been several days since I had noticed the preparations, while passing in front of their house to go to the warung (restaurant) opposite which is also an internet center. Decoration of the entrance with a fake door in cardboard, like a balinese temple, flowers, hangings...
The bride and groom were there, welcoming everyone at the entrance. They kindly posed, a bit frozen, in their sumptuous and kitschy costumes. In the courtyard across the street, as dinner time approached, the men gradually gathered, to eat and drink among themselves, something other than tea, in my opinion... No less than three pigs must be killed for the festivities. There was already one roasting on the spit.
I left after a while, after chatting a bit with my table neighbors and nibbling two cakes, delighted to have had a little glimpse of these wedding preparations.
