The Miracle of Bali - 1. The Midday Sun

First transmitted in 1969, this is a general introduction to Bali, its people and their varied arts, with the main focus on Peliatan village, its orchestra and dancers.

In the first of this three-part series, David Attenborough visits composer Anak Agung Gde Mandera in Peliatan, who went on a successful word tour with his Gamelan orchestra in 1952. David Attenborough also observes three young Balinese girls being trained and finally performing the greatest of Bali’s classical dances, the Legong. The girls are under the tuition of Gusti Made Sengok, a master of Peliatan Legong. Aside from music and dance, the programme focuses on the flourishing art scene. Mask maker Ida Bagus Ketut presents a selection of masks he has carved for the night-long plays and David meets traditional Balinese painter Ida Bagus Made, one of the many artists inspired by German primitivist painter Walter Spies.