The middle school was honored by a second guest teacher for the middle school master class series in dance. I Gede Oka Artha Negara (also known as ‘Oka’) brought costumes and music to share Balinese dance with our students. I’ve included his biography below. Balinese dance is an impactful and disciplined style of dance that includes gorgeous costume work. Saki, the middle school dance teacher, invited and arranged Oka’s visit. He taught music and dance classes to the sixth, seventh and eighth graders.I Gede Oka Artha Negara is the founder and director of Gamelan Artha Negara in Santa Cruz. He is an accomplished composer, musician, choreographer and dancer from Bali, Indonesia. From 1992-2011 he was the associate artistic director and a leading performer in Gamelan Suar Agung, acknowledged as one of the finest and most influential Jegog ensembles in Bali.
Gede Oka has taught and performed internationally. Some of his career highlights have been leading Suar Agung to prominent festivals throughout Indonesia and abroad such as the International Gamelan Festival in Amsterdam, Holland (2007). He performed with Suar Agung for the opening of the 2008 World Cup in France, has toured in Japan many times, and danced as an independent artist in Singapore and Thailand. He has been invited to perform in the United States twice, first in 2010 as a guest musical director with Gamelan Sekar Jaya in Oakland, and then in 2011 to perform with Song of Dharma for the opening of the Bali Exhibit at San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum. 
He began studying Balinese performing arts as a child in West Bali in the village of Sangkar Agung under the tutelage of his father I Ketut Suwentra, a renowned artist and the founder and director of Suar Agung. He continued his studies at ISI (Bali’s National Academy of the Arts), where he specialized in composition and bamboo music. Gede considers it his mission to spread appreciation and knowledge of Gamelan music, dance, and culture around the globe.###
By Lisa Catterall, director of middle school
Photos by Lisa Catterall
Nestled among the redwoods on 355 mountaintop acres, Mount Madonna is a safe and nurturing college-preparatory school that supports students in becoming caring, self-aware and articulate critical thinkers, who are prepared to meet challenges with perseverance, creativity and integrity. The CAIS and WASC accredited program emphasizes academic excellence, creative self-expression and positive character development. Located on Summit Road between Gilroy and Watsonville.
