Gamelan Sekar Jaya

the three rs
Rucina with Rose NIsker (whom Rucina taught Balinese dance to when she was eight!  She is now a stunning dancer) and Rachel Cooper, co-founder of GSJ and one of Rucina’s dance partners from the 80s.

Rucina, along with founders Wayan Suweca, Rachel Cooper, Michael Tenzer and a score of dedicated artists, started Gamelan Sekar Jaya (GSJ) in Berkeley, California in 1979.  Nearly 40 years later, it is still going strong, although the players have changed somewhat and now it is the children of the musicians who are the dancers!

When GSJ did their first tour in Bali in 1985, the group consisted of 17 women and 8 men. The Balinese went berserk seeing women in strong roles of musicianship and since that time, women’s gamelan groups have sprung up in nearly every village.  Since that time, GSJ has been to Bali several times and collaborated with numerous groups from around the world.

For more information:  www.gsj.org