Jakarta, September 12th, 2006 " Monkey Dance, or the Cak Dance as the locals call it, commonly involves as many as 75 to 150 dancers. Visitors coming to Bali are continuously satisfied having watched the non-instrument dance usually performed at night. Extraordinarily, this type of dance will be presented by more than 5,000 people from Tabanan district in Tanah Lot, Bali, in September 29th, 2006. The dance would be commenced at around 5 pm as the day sees the end, taking an advantage of the unparalleled sunset as a backdrop in Tanah Lot, Bali. The crowd involved would be from various professions and age. Some of them are the local government officials, policemen, soldiers, teachers, students, and entrepreneurs from Tabanan. These people have been practicing for 3 months.
The colossal dance is called the Cakolosal 5,000 Tabanan and is fully supported by the government of Tabanan, Bali, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of RI, as the Head of Tabanan District, Mr. Wiryatama, said during the press conference held in Sapta Pesona Building, Ministry of Culture and Tourism of RI, in Jakarta.
The event is part of the efforts done by Tabanan people in recovering Balis tourism industry. That is why the government of Tabanan is eager to held such event in Tanah Lot, preparing a grand stage called Surya Mandala, enough to cater all the dancers and around 4,000 spectators.
The dance whose choreographer is I Gusti Agung Ngurah Suparta, will take around 40 minutes. According to a tour operator, currently 1,500 international tourists have booked for the grand event.
Bali is now as normal as usual and many people are anticipating for more visitors to come.
Resource: Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Republic of Indonesia
