The foreign tongue refers to him as Mario, and yet the naine of this artist, who was born in 1897, was actually I Ketut Marya.  Passing away on March 22, 1968,  this dancer had a somewhat slight build, but he made a big name for himself, and for Bali and Indonesia too.  His monumental creation Kebyar  Duduk, which is danced entirely in a sitting/stoop has become a mascot for Bali, performed even today in every banjar across the island and also for the entertainment of dignitaries and tourists.

His personal fame and that of his creations certainly didn't happen over night. As well as being a choreographer, Mario was also famous as a Gandrung dancer, a kind of social dance which was traditionally danced by men.  Also, before his career in Gandrung, he studied classical dances such as Baris, Jauk, and Calonarang.  His teachers included 1 Salit and Pak Candri from Mengwi Gede village in Badung.

His childhood and upbringing are grey areas for historians.  It is thought that he was born in Belaluan village in Denpasar, and later grew up in Banjar Lebah, Tabanan,
where Anak Agung Ngurah Made Kaleran, an aristocrat who loved the arts and gave much support to  artists in his region, has been identified as  his step father, Mario's journey as an artist first got underway when he became first dancer of the
Pangkung Gong club in Tabanan.  In the beginning he was known as a most able dancer of sisia a pupil of Calonarang the witch.  Then he achieved fame as the person responsible for raising the status of Pangkung Gong club, who competed
against other groups all over Bali.  In 1958 he even went with the group to Paris, Holland, England, America and Canada, and  in 1962 they toured America.

He had many admirers, including Ni  Made Jereg, one of many women who were crazy about him.  Unfortunately the couple were not able to have children.  As a married man Mario worked in 1938 in Landscape Office and in Court of Justice in Tabanan, but his thoughts were towards his art and shining it on Bali.

His enthusiasm was unrelenting right through   to his old age.  In 1952 when the Peliatan Gong club went to Europe and the States, Mario was  invited along to perform his Kebyar Duduk.  Because he was already quite old he refused, politely, but he came under pressure from John Coast and Anak Agung Gede Mandra, and finally agreed to  go as long as he only had to dance the first part of the piece, with the young 1 Sampih taking over  for the finish.   It seems that Mario forgot himself, and when it was Sampih's turn to enter the arena, Mario didn't seem intent on stopping.  There then followed an interesting improvisation, and the composite creation performed by the two dancers became known as Sabungan Ayam - Cock Fighting.

Just one year before his death in 1967 Mario spent the remainder of his energy presenting his most prestigious piece - kebyar duduk - to the students of ASTI in Denpasar.  Along with one of his pupils, 1 Gusti Ayu Raka, a dancer of Oleg Tamuffiffigan at the time, he showed the younger generation that doing art is a necessity for every one of us.

Today, thanks to Kebyar Duduk and Oleg   Tamulllingan, Mario has become a legend of the creative arts, with these two pieces becoming cornerstones in the development of the local arts. Gamelan Gong Kebyar - the main musical impetus behind kebyar dances, is a phenomenon that arose around the year 1915.  As we approach 2000  kebyar and the kebyar style dominate the performing arts in Bali.

The birth of Kebyar Duduk in 1925 drew an   enourmous influence from Gong Kebyar.  The story goes that in 1919 during a temple ceremony in  Tabanan Mario became accidentally entranced by the music he heard played by the Bantiran village  gong club.  Not so well known at that time, and being played by the musicians of Bantiran village,  a style soon evolved called bebantiran.

This bebantiran gamelan caught a hold of   Mario.  Its colour, rhythm, and dynamics were on his mind all the time, Anyway it so happened that  one day Mario was performing Gandrung in the north of Bali, said to be the birth-place of gong  kebyar.  In Busungbiyu village he saw a gamelan group in rehearsal, playing what sounded to Mario  like baband (= music.)  Hearing this music, which had for some time been working on his creative  unconscious, made Mario once again stop in his tracks, and he began to stare at the musicians rehearsing.

A member of the gamelan group remembered   seeing Mario dance Gandrung an hour or so earlier, and whether he had been invited to do so or  not, Mario entered the rehearsal space and began to dance.  He danced and danced, interpreting the music as he moved, mostly in a stooping position, swirling and swaying, utilising the Gandrung costume that he happened to be wearing.   Elements of Gandrung naturally came out, and the ibing-  ibingan section of the Gandrung dance he performed in tandem with the group's drummer The  drummer invented beautifully choreographed movements on the spot and performed along with   the dancer and his glittering hand-held fan.  Then Mario tried to spur the trompong player into joining in, but he was shy and unwilling, so Mario grabbed the musician's hammers and played by  himself, dancing all the time.  It seems he was a rather good trompong player too!

The improvisational dance that came out of his   response to the music that day later became known as Kebyar Duduk, or, if danced with trompong,  Kebyar Trompong.  These creations soon stirred a revolution in Balinese dance, and why not?  It contrasted greatly with other dancers of the time, being performed for the most part in a stooped sitting position.  Despite this limited stance the upper torso is used to maximum effect and its moves came as a breath of fresh air to dance in Bali at that time.    

Maestro Mario.  Your fantastic creations will  live forever.