U-NA-RAJ TROOPS CREATIVE DANCE

Abstract

U-na-raj troops creative dance aimed to study the background of U-na-raj according to a drama screenplay of the Ramayana epic which was written by His Majesty King Phra Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke the Great. The literary work is consistent with the beliefs of Thao-Khok–kha-nak and Khao Wong Phra Chan hill in the legend of Lopburi province and to create the dance performance. It was revealed that the appearance of the U-na-raj giants differed from general giants in the Ramayana epic. The U-na-raj giants consisted of 6 groups as follows: the giants in the first group had their body as a giant but their face look like a tiger. The giants in the 2^nd group all had a giant face with a tiger body. The giants in the 3^rd group had a face of a horse with a giant body. The giants in the 4^th group had a giant face with a body as a horse. The giants in the 5^th group had a lion face with a giant body while the giants in the 6^th group had a giant face with a lion body. The creator created the performance from literature and research. The performance sequence was divided into 4 parts as follow: Part 1 was the series of performers dancing with Rau-Sam-La song. Part 2 was the introduction of the performers with the lyric and the 1^st level tempo of the Khmer-Pak-Tor song. Part 3 was the army forces process dance with Ground-Nai song. Part 4 was the marching dance with Cherd song. The dance performance was accompanied by Piphat Kreang Khu band performance. The costumes were in a style/ pattern of standing giant soldiers. If the actor had a giant body with an animal face, he would wear a standing giant soldier costume in red or green clothes. If the actor had an animal body with a giant face, he would wear a standing giant soldier costume according to his animal character. The actors wore opened-face headdress and painted their face to show the Khon Mask painting art. As for the Dance routine of the main giants, the dance showed the mixture of giant core dance moves and the character movement of each animal they were putting on the role. Those dancers with a giant body and an animal face show feet, hand gestures and their dance moves of the giants but would act as the animal that they were putting on a role. The dancers with an animal body and a giant face would show their feet, hand gestures and their dance moves of animals but behave and act tough and in a disciplined manner as those solders in a fighting army.