Few dancers master their craft in this life believing that if
they excel, they can become gods or goddesses in the afterlife.
But that’s Waewdao Sirisook’s prime motivation.
Sirisook, who grew up in a Northern Thailand region called
Lanna, meaning “a million rice fields,” is one of many
in Lanna culture who relates to religion and ritual through
dance.
“We believe that if you do a good dance ““ the best
one that you can ““ then when you die, you will become the god
or goddess of dance, and you dance for whatever god or hero you
want to,” Sirisook said.
Sirisook, a first-year master-of-fine-arts candidate in the UCLA
Deparrment of World Arts and Cultures, is currently choreographing
a dance performance for the Chiang Mai Performing Arts Group, which
is scheduled to take place today at noon in the Kaufman Family
Garden Theater.
The group consists of alumni from Chiang Mai University in
Northern Thailand.
Its goal is to perform pieces that reflect Lanna culture and
dance and to make offerings that honor ancestors or other respected
relatives, both living and dead.
Susan Saelee, a second-year business economics student, heard
about the performance because she has to see it for her Thai
language class.
“I am excited to see the Chiang Mai group’s
performance and learn about what makes Lanna dance culture
unique,” Saelee said.
Sirisook said Lanna dance culture stands out because of its
flexibility and openness to people of all ages and skill
levels.
“Dance, in our culture, has no right or wrong, no pattern,
so you can do whatever you want,” he said. “Nobody is
going to tell you, “˜This step is right, and if you go higher
than this, it’s wrong.'”
This flexibility is apparent throughout the Lanna cultural
dances, especially trance dance.
In trance dance, dancers have to adhere to a strict set of
choreographed footwork, but they are free to move their hands and
other body parts as they wish. This freedom allows individuals to
take the dance and infuse it with their own style, making it their
own.
By having one’s own dance style in which nothing is right
or wrong, the Lanna dancers can truly express their emotions at any
given instant in time, making it more raw and real for the
audience, Sirisook said.
“Dance is instantaneous,” he said. “When you
feel like you want to dance, you come and dance. That’s what
I like about my culture: It comes from the inside.”
Sirisook and the Chiang Mai Performing Arts Group are part of a
series of free, hour-long shows put on by WAC and the Center for
Intercultural Performance to inaugurate the new Kaufman Family
Garden Theater.
The goal of this series, called “In the Garden,” is
to expose UCLA students to various dance styles from around the
world and to provoke thought, said Judy Mitoma, director of
CIP.
“In these turbulent times, it is critical that we
recognize the importance of international cultural exchange,”
Mitoma said. “WAC and CIP together provide a unique context
in which we can highlight the creativity and dynamism of our
students and the strength of diversity in our
department.”
Lanna culture has engaged in international cultural exchange
““ it has been influenced over the centuries by invaders from
Burma, Laos and China, Sirisook said.
War with these countries from the 13th to 15th centuries led the
Lanna people to enlist aid from the Siamese, who took over Lanna
after driving out the invaders, she said.
For centuries the Lanna people were taught to think of
themselves as “Thai.” Only within the last 40 years or
so has a sense of the Lanna national identity re-emerged, she
added.
To Sirisook, reasserting Northern Thailand’s national
identity through dance may be just as important as dancing to make
offerings to her ancestors.
“I want to see Lanna in the golden age again,”
Sirisook said.