Golden Anniversary of the ITB Bali Arts Student Unit Maha Gotra Ganesha Performs “Arsa Karsa” Show
By Adi Permana
Editor Vera Citra Utami
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id -- The Bali Arts Student Unit Maha Gotra Ganesha (MGG) celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2021. As in previous years, MGG celebrated its Dies Natalis with the main event held on Saturday (18/9/2021), filled with Balinese cultural performances broadcast on the Zoom platform.
Born on 15th September 1971, MGG now celebrates its golden anniversary with the theme Arsa Karsa. Arsa Karsa in Sanskrit means souls who encourage living things to be happy through art. The event began with remarks from the Head of MGG 50th Anniversary, Ida Bagus Raditya Avanindra (MGG’19), who hoped that this event could be a creative space for MGG members to become the souls who spread cultural joy, namely art and culture.
The second remark came from MGG Supervisor, Prof. Dr. Gede Suantika, S.Si., M.Sc. He advised MGG members and alumni to keep doing art. "Once you love MGG, it will be forever," he emphasized.
The main event was opened with a video performance of the Cendrawasih Dance by active MGG members. The dance tells a story of the eternal love of a pair of birds of Paradise, inspired by its actual dance while making love. The event continued with a drama performance titled “Dan Dies Hadir”, about the love story of 2 MGG alumni, Amara and Ditya, who reunited at the MGG alumni gathering.
The next performance is the iconic Balinese dance, Kecak Dance, staged en masse online by dozens of MGG members. The Kecak dance is a dance performed by dozens to hundreds of people who use the dancer's distinctive vocals and usually tells the Ramayana story.
On this golden anniversary, Maha Gotra Ganesha gave awards to its special members. One of them is for the founder of MGG, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ida I Dewa Gede Raka, who is also a retired Professor of ITB.
The next dance performance was the highlight of the show, the Banda Yowana Dance. Banda Yowana Dance tells the story of the joy and enthusiasm of a group of young people to be creative. The dance was chosen as the highlight of the show because it is in harmony with the theme of the anniversary, Arsa Karsa.
I Nengah Maja, the coach of MGG, gave his biggest appreciation as the event was a success. In his presentation, he also explained the history of MGG, which also tells the story of the Ramayana Dance performed in Paris, France in 2002.
Reporter: Ananta Muji (Sistem dan Teknologi Informasi, 2019)
Translator: Aghisna Syifa R (Biologi, 2020)
