A smile always appeared on her friendly face. Her body was wrapped in Balinese cloth and kebaya. At the age of 77, Ni Ketut Arini still looks energetic. Born from an artist family, little Arini also felt the vocation to dance and became a dance teacher.

She felt fascinated when she saw her uncle dancing. “When my uncle arrived at the practice site, I would have been there sitting and watching how he moved, sometimes carrying the wood was very interesting for me,” she recalls. When her uncle caught Arini’s interest, he invited Arini to learn to dance as well as directing her how to teach dance.

When she was 14 years old, Arini was asked to teach the Besakih village dance in Karang Asem which was quite a distance from where she lives. “I was afraid and hesitated but my father asked me, so I didn’t dare to refuse.” Since then, she was no longer separated from dance classes. During the day, Arini teaches dance at school, in the afternoon she teaches a dance studio and at night she also dances for performances.

The biggest challenge came when three foreign women from America asked Arini to teach them to dance. “At that time,I thought about how to teach them to count the dance moves. I tried every type of method, but always failed. I kept thinking and it finally worked. It makes me more confident and by the time, more students from Europe to Africa are looking for me to learn dancing”.

In her journey to teach dance, Arini has written a book about Balinese dance techniques, she was also asked to teach the Sekar Jaya Group in America, whose members are American citizens who want to practice Balinese dancing. For 10 years Arini went back and forth from America, six months in America and six months in Bali.

Until now, her enthusiasm to continue teaching Balinese dance continues to burn, even during the pandemic Arini is still teaching her students via online. “I tried to use all my intelligence for dance. I revitalize classical dance. I am always willing to help young people who come to me mentor them for dance competition. As long as they promise to keep practicing until they can”.

In a short conversation with We Love With Love Team, Arini emphasized that dancing was an ancestral heritage that must be preserved by the younger generation. “I can prove that dance could be a promising source of income. What young people need was not to be afraid to pursue the world of dance. ” she confidently spoke.