Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Tribal textiles and weavings produced by the Chin, Naga, Kachin and Kayin can also
be very beautiful, especially antique pieces. Among traditional hand-woven silk
longyis,
laun-taya acheik,
woven on a hundred spools, are the most prized.
The beautifully painted little parasols you see around Myanmar are often made in
Pathein - in fact they're known as
Pathein hti
(Pathein umbrellas).
Dance & Theatre
Myanmar's truly indigenous dance forms are those that pay homage to the
nat
(spirit be-
ings). Most classical dance styles, meanwhile, arrived from Thailand. Today the dances
most obviously taken from Thailand are known as
yodaya zat
(Ayuthaya theatre), as
taught to the people of Myanmar by Thai theatrical artists taken captive in the 18th cen-
tury.
The most Myanmar of dances feature solo performances by female dancers who wear
strikingly colourful dresses with long white trains, which they kick into the air with their
heels - quite a feat, given the restrictive length of the train.
Pwe
is the generic word in Myanmar for theatre or performance and it embraces all
kinds of plays and musical operas as well as dancing. An all-night
zat pwe
involves a re-
creation of an ancient legend or Buddhist Jataka (story of the Buddha's past lives), while
the
yamazat pwe
pick a tale from the Indian epic Ramayana. In Mandalay,
yamazat
per-
formers even have their own shrine.
Myanmar classical dancing emphasises pose rather than movement and solo rather
than ensemble performances. In contrast the less common, but livelier,
yein pwe
features
singing and dancing performed by a chorus or ensemble.
Most popular of all is the
a-nyeint,
a traditional
pwe
somewhat akin to early American
vaudeville, the most famous exponents of which are Mandalay's Moustache Brothers and
the satirist and film actor and director Zarganar.
Myanmar dance scholars have catalogued around 2000 dance movements, including 13
head movements, 28 eye movements, eight body postures and 10 walking movements.
Marionette Theatre
Youq-the pwe
(Myanmar marionette theatre) presents colourful puppets up to 3.5ft high
in a spectacle that some consider the most expressive of all the Myanmar arts.
