Putu Desak Warti was born into an extended artistic family in Pengosekan Village, Ubud, Bali. She has kept in contact with Tracks since she arrived in Darwin in 1991 and has been seminal in our understanding of Balinese traditional dance. For many years Putu, and her dance school and performance troupe Tunas Mekar (established in 1993), were regular performers on the Darwin dance calendar of events, including Tracks' events. In 2009 Putu approached the company with a request to work with a contemporary choreographer, in order to increase her artistic repertoire. We connected her with choreographer Joanna Noonan to create a work for our season of In Allure of Paradise. This work explored Putu's Balinese style against a contemporary dance style. Putu led Tracks' Co-Artistic Directors Tim and David through a research trip in her hometown of Ubud, informing the Festival show Zombies in the Banyan Tree, a fusion of Balinese and various western dance practices, including a Kecak choir juxtaposed with beatboxing. She has added to our performances such as Hidden Meaning and was a key leader in the Cultural Mapping Project. Tracks FeDarwin Festival work In Your Blood drew from Putu's real-life experience of having a strong Balinese Culture with a son fully immersed in Australian Rules Football, alongside a Sri Lankan mother, Chandrika Munasinghe, who also had a strong cultural background and a son obsessed with cricket.

"I am so proud to extend this knowledge to the audience, particularly Darwin audiences because we are multicultural.”

Tracks works Putu has been involved in:

1991 Guest Teacher
1994 Open House 
1995 Open House 2
2010 Allure of Paradise
2012 Ubud Research Trip – Bali, Indonesia
2013 Cultural Mapping Project
2013 Zombies in the Banyan Tree
2015 Hidden Meaning
2016 Big Dance
2018 In Your Blood