. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . "Earth Dance, the story of four generations of Balinese women, centers on conflicts that arise between the demands of caste and personal desires. Narrated by Ida Ayu Telaga, a Balinese woman in her thirties, the novel shows Balinese women-as depicted by her mother, grandmother and female peers-to be motivated by two factors: the yearning to be beautiful, and the desire for a high-caste husband. Headstrong Telaga defies her mother's wishes and marries the man of her dreams, who is a commoner. Thus, in a reversal of societal expectations, as shown in the novel by images of women who aspire to \"liberation\" through \"marrying up\", Telaga's emancipation is implicitly characterized as a move downwards, through transformation to the status of a commoner. Earth Dance also reveals that-like high-caste status-beauty, too, has a price. Behind the thick, glossy hair and golden complexion, lies a web of jealousy, derision and intrigue. Telaga, whose life is controlled by her mother's avarice, her mother-in-law's bitterness and the greed of her sister-in-law, has frequent cause to wonder: \"Is this what it means to be a woman?\""@en . "Earth dance" . "Earth Dance"@en . "Tarian bumi sebuah novel" . . "Tarian bumi : sebuah novel" . "Fiction"@en . . . . . . "Caste." . . . . "TheLontar Foundation (Jakarta)." . . "Indonesian fiction." . . "Indonesia" . . "Feminine beauty (Aesthetics)" . . "Women." . .