THE CREATIVE DRAMATIC ARTS: BUPHAE JITRANEANG

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Abstract

The creative work of dramatic arts named “Buphae Jitraneang” aimed to create a new type of Thai classical dance through a study of ancient history of the Khmer Empire and giving oneself to the monarch or emperor. “Buphae Jitraneang” means the stigma of a woman's destiny. The authors studied a story of concubine in relation to the carved image of Nang Apsara at Prasat Sikhoraphum. An association of architecture indicated that Prasat Sikhoraphum was built based on the ancient Khmer fine art during the ages of Papuan and Angkor Wat. Therefore, this concept was transferred to dance movements in the form of creative dramatic arts. There were 12 performers, comprising 10 females and 2 males. In addition, there were 76 dance postures with 20 movement patterns. The performers’ costumes were created based on what the authors had observed from the engraved statue of Apsara from Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom of Cambodia. Apsara wore a sleeveless fitted top and sampot with pleats gathered at the front. Ornaments were adorned on her topknot. The emperor also wore pleated fabric with a crown on his head, the same as a carved image of Khmer emperor. In addition, the melody was newly composed with the combination of southern Isan musical instrument and contemporary musical instrument in order to add more feelings into the melody. The performance was divided into three phases: 1) groups of ladies, soft dancing movement, pacing (raising) 2) self-offering to the monarch (emperor) 3) a penalty imposed to the concubine.