Abstract:
To study the Ramtong dance performance of the Pow Karen in Banmaipattana Village, Sangkhlaburi District, Kanchanaburi Province during 2004-2005. The focus is on the background, composition and dance postures which are characteristics of the Ramtong dance performance. The information is compiled from academic documents, interviews with dance teachers, performers, those who conduct studies on performances of the Karen, five observations of performances and the researcher's practice of the dance. The result of the study reveals that at present, the Pow Karen in Banmaipattana Village have only five types of the Ramtong dance performance left -- Ramtong Abla, Ramtong Aipho, Ramtong Aimi, Ramtong Mong Yow by children and Ramtong Mong Yow by adults. The Ramtong dance performance is accompanied by Karen songs and the rhythms are controlled by specific musical instrument -- the Walei and the Tapone or a two-faced drum. It is assumed that the dance has been performed for over 200 years and its origin is presumed to be from two sources 1) from religious rites, 2) from story narration. The purposes of the performance are for 1) Organizing religious rites, 2) Entertaining, 3) Demonstrating. In the past, it was popular for the performance to present the episodes in the Lord Buddha's life. Later, the performance was added with the beliefs of the Karen, stories of the Karen group and the romance of young men and women. The Ramtong dance performance takes place in a large open space. Performers consists of at least 12 men and women. The attire is that of the traditional costume of the tribe. Props are white handkerchiefs, flowers and fire. The words in the songs are in Karen and Burmese languages. In terms of dance characteristics, it is found that the major structure of the performance consists of three levels 1. Preparation posture, 2. Invocation dance to the dance master 3. The dance accompanied by the music. The dance performance emphasizes the dance that is in harmony with the rhythms of the music and the unison movement of the performers. Dance postures consist of five postures 1. Dance postures assumed to originate from tradition postures, 2. Dance postures in imitation of nature, 3. Dance postures modified from other dance posture, 4. Dance postures newly created, 5. Dance postures based on basic dance postures. The characteristic dance posture is the downward rolling of the hands and flipping them up to form a perpendicular hand posture by swinging the arms and the hands in a circular movement before bending the wrists and pressing the middle fingers toward the thumbs without letting the two fingers touch each other and then flinging the wrists upwards to form perpendicular hand posture. Major dance postures include hand swinging, hand flipping, forming a perpendicular hand posture, rolling the hands downwards, hand clapping and foot tramping. It is found that sitting on the heals is the most prominent of all sitting positions. The most prominent dance movement is a combination of postures, which consist of rolling and flinging the wrists, forming a perpendicular hand posture and hand clapping. The major structure of the dance movement appears in the standing position. The dance performance begins with rolling and flinging the wrists to form a perpendicular hand posture, which followed by specific dance postures and ends with hand clapping dance. This research presents a segment of the cultural development of folk performance, which may be used as a guideline for contrastive studies of performance of other ethnic groups and also for contrastive studies of performances of the Karen in Thailand and those in Southeast Asia.