DENPASAR (indo.com): Artist Barbara Anello's water color works now on view at the Chedy Hotel, Payangan, Gianyar, provide glimpses into the sensual world of traditional Balinese dance. The exhibition, entitled 'The Dance E the Dancer' will last until end of February, 2002.

Anello's draws inspiration of her portraits of traditional Balinese and Javanese dancers from her experiences while staying with a group of performers in Karangasem, Bali's remote eastern regency.

In addition to reenacting episodes from the epic Ramayana, the works also cover mask dances and drama as well as the more macabre Calonarang, the classic drama of witchcraft and terror, starring a wild cast headed by a widow-witch, the queen of black magic.

Many of the works in this exhibition (organized by noted choreographer Wayan Dibia and Rucina Ballinger) are to be published by Berkeley Books, Periplus Publishers, in October.

To the Balinese, her paintings "captured the soul" of the dancer in that ephemeral moment where the performer surrenders his or her identity to the archetypal character or role. Traditional dance is a gesture to the divine for the delight and amusement of all.