Abstract:
This doctoral dissertation aimed to find the performance style and the concept after the creation of the dance to stimulate the interest of the new generation towards the candle crafts in Lent ceremony of Ubon Ratchathani Province. Qualitative research methods and creative research were used in this study. The tools used in this research consisted of analysis of data from academic papers, electronic media, interviews from experts and people related to the research, observation, academic seminar, criteria of creating standards for recognizing role models in the dance, and personal experience of the researcher as a guideline for analyzing, synthesizing, and creating works in the dance. The results showed that the creation of the work was the use of the phenomenon in the Candle Festival to stimulate the interest of the new generation to create awareness and pride in the tradition which showed the essence of faith in Buddhism. For the society, it created a bond, unity, and the love for the hometown of the returnees. The inheritance of candle carving and the tradition reflected the cooperation of the new generation who presented the candle parade in the form of Tableau Vivant as shown in eight performance elements. 1) The performances telling about the candle parade in the past, present, and future were: Act 1 The reminiscent of the Candle Festival in the past, Act 2 The decreasing interest of the new generation in the present, and Act 3 The stimulation of the interest of the new generation in the future. 2) The dance style was presented in minimalism with the body movement of postmodern dance, folk dance, everyday movement, improvisation, and dynamic, which led to the creation of dance theatre presented to convey the story according to the script of the show. 3) Performers were volunteers from the new generation, including untied dance performers, singers, musicians and mixed media artists. 4) For the costume design, minimalism was applied. 5) For the music, Isan folk songs from Pong Lang band were played together with creative international music and newly composed Molam lyrics and melodies. 6) The performance was displayed in an open space that was easily accessible to the new generation. 7) Natural light in the area was used to simplify the presentation style as the multicolored light represented the light in a temple fair. 8) For the performance equipment, the concept of minimalism, which emphasized the use of symbols, simplicity, economy, comprehensibility, was applied. In addition, the concepts obtained after the creation of the dance were considered, including: 1) Creativity in choosing a topic to create a performance, 2) Identity and inheritance of Buddhist Lent candles, 3) Factors affecting the interest of Buddhist Lent candles of the new generation, 4) The stimulation of the interest of the new generation, 5) The result of the performance, 6) The creativity in the dance, 7) The use of symbols, 8) The variety of performance styles, and 9) The concepts of dance, music and visual arts. All these research results were consistent and met the research objectives in every aspect.