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Portrait of a Balinese Dancer - About the documentary "How I miss these joyous and carefree moments in time. For seemingly never ending hours, I would be lost in this beautiful game... the game of catching the dragonfly."  Dewi - Epilog "Dragonfly" is the title of the first installation of a multi-part video documentary featuring the life of Kadek Dewi Aryani, a talented Balinese dancer and vocalist. Kevin Bird, a producer and director - specializing in documentary-style programs, was intruduced to Dewi over three years ago... while shooting a documentary about Balinese culture.	On location - the beach
He was so intrigued by Dewi as a traditional dancer, performer and as a very spiritual human being, that he decided to follow her with the camera and to film her life and fascinating culture. Numerous shooting trips to Bali and several visits of Dewi to the studio on Kauai (over the last three and a half years), resulted in a beautiful documentary with a very personal touch and an exciting spiritual warmness. "Dewi - Portrait of a Balinese Dancer" not only highlights the artist and her craft, it also showcases her cultural background - the ever important Hindu religion, almost forgotten Balinese traditions, and her strong bond with family and her village...	Dewi - approving the shot
In "Dewi - Portrait of a Balinese Dancer" - the viewer will learn about traditional Balinese dance and its meaning, will see family interaction at home, will understand her pride as a dance instructor... and much more. Who is to say that this documentary won't even help to pave the path to a deeper understanding of Balinese tradition, religion and life philosophy... as introduced to us Westerners through the dance of Kadek Dewi Aryani. The full documentary is slated for DVD release later in 2004. Additional music releases with Dewi will include a contemporary world music album, and a Balinese folk song album.	Dewi - scene rehearsal

Documentary Synopsis and Info - DVD 1 - Featurettes and Slide Shows: 1. The Dragonfly (Capung) Approx. running time - 26:34 minutes This first installment introduces Kadek Dewi Aryani as traditional Balinese dancer, her close personal interaction with her family and her village. It globally describes the Hindu religion, almost forgotten traditional cultural and social values and its importance in every aspect of daily life and the performing arts. This featurette covers Dewi in different stages of her life, explains how she got started as a dancer, and explores her professional and personal intentions for the future; she already achieved her primary goal to become a professional dancer, dance instructor, and worldwide recognized performer at the age of 25. Scenes: Interviews with classical backdrops in traditional costumes - daily life and dance events 2. The Family (Makan Siang) Approx. running time - 24:13 minutes The second part of the documentary goes more into detail about family life, and social structures within the traditional Balinese community. The storyline utilizes a typical family lunch as the jumping board to explore family interaction; from shopping at the market and food preparation to sitting together at the table and the discussions afterwards - in typical patriarchal male-female separation - and it becomes clear, that traditional values and the ever-present Hindu religion play a major part in any social interaction. It also captures Dewi caught in her tradition role, she is quite unsure about her own identity within the traditional values and her newfound knowledge about the outside world, which she experienced during her travels to Europe and the United States. Scenes: Food preparation in black and white to enhance traditional Balinese life, fading into modern get-together and interviews with family members. 3. The Temple (Karya Agung) Approx. running time - 45:21 minutes The third featurette not only highlights Dewi as a modern accomplished performing artist, it also focuses on her religious Hindu heritage. The story examplifies a specific important religious festival, which occurs every fifty years, to explain the traditional values and boundaries in Balinese culture - and also offers a special narrative block about the history of Balinese Hinduism. Agama Tirtha (the religion of the Holy Water) is a unique fusion of the archaic Malayo-Indonesian beliefs and rituals, and a multitude of Hindu and Buddhist influences, and was introduced to the island between the 8th and the 16th centuries by numerous spiritual leaders and invading forces. Modern Balinese Hinduism now encompasses a vast range of practices and doctrines of both Hinduism and Buddhism, carefully grafted into the base of the ancient religious backbone of animistic ancestral worship, and the belief in the nature spirits of fire, water, earth, sun, mountains, and the sea. Scenes: Interviews inside ancient Besakih temple complex, religious preparations, festival scenes and processions during the Karya Agung festivities. 4. The Village (Dusun) Approx. running time - 24:38 minutes In a more global setting, this fourth part of the documentary showcases a new Balinese world, a modern society - introduced to the viewer with fast edits, and a dance influenced music score to portray this modern Bali. Here, the old traditions and cultural influences are still present, but take a backseat over these modern influences, introduced to Bali by the western world via its non escapable mass media. Western television shows, modern music, dance clubs, shopping malls are some signs of this new era, but fortunately, this portion of the documentary also shows that despite all the modern influences, Bali still retains its own cultural integrity. Bali is not immune against western influences and already faces some of the same problems associated with "modern western life", but is still strong enough to curb these problems with actively practiced religion, strong family values, tradition, and a working social structure. Scenes: Modern Bali backdrops, young dancers in costume riding motorcycles, village life, and modern dance performances in hotels, and during a wedding. 5. Slide Show (Family and Friends) Approx. running time - 5:55 minutes A pan and zoom style slide show featuring approximately one hundred personal still photos taken on location in Bali. The underlying world music score is composed by Kevin Bird and performed by Dewi Aryani. Documentary Synopsis and Info - DVD 2 - Interview and additional features: 6. Talk About (Berbicara Tentang) Approx. running time - 45:17 minutes This last installment of the documentary series can be described as a personal account of Kadek Dewi Aryani's life in a more intimate up-close interview situation. She answers a wide range of interesting questions ranging from the very personal to the obscure. Scenes: Interviews with on screen host Christophe Hartke at various locations in Bali. 7. Music Video Clips Approx. running time - 20:00 minutes Three dance music clips, shot on location in Bali featuring songs from the upcoming world music album. The contemporary dances are choreographed by Dewi Aryani and performed by her and other professional dancers from the Ubud region. 8. Slide Show (Making of...) Approx. running time - 6:13 minutes A pan and zoom style slide show featuring approximately one hundred personal still photos taken on location in Bali. The underlying world music score is composed by Kevin Bird and performed by Dewi Aryani. 9. Upcoming Productions and Trailers Approx. running time - 5:00 minutes The main features are available in the original Indonesian narration with subtitles (English or German) or with English narration. Audio segments are Stereo only - an enhanced 5:1 Surround is planned for future releases.