BALI
The pandemic has hit Bali hard. According to John Hopkins University, there were 1.2 million cases in July 2021 alone, with more than 1000 dying each day. For Bali, the holiday destination for Australians and Kiwis, now locked in to their own countries, it is devastating on so many levels. A Qantas repatriation flight left for Australia this week . So much of the economy centres around tourism. I was there in the early 1980s, making a film about the impact of tourism on the local cultures. A lot of work was done at the time to ensure that the tourist $s did not all go to big overseas companies. And whilst many shows on holiday islands are, like everywhere, put on for visitors, the music and theatre here is as genuine as it gets, steeped in ancient Hindu tradition and folklore. Uniquely their own. You were as likely to stumble upon a local ceremony involving dozens of dancers & musicians pottering about the island as you were in the hotel and restaurant districts. Trance is a part