Khantoke Dance; a Chaing Mai tradition

THERE ARE few performances more elegant than the traditional Thai Dance with its graceful movements, its brilliant colors, its soft rhythm and its radiating presence. Thai Dance known as"Fawn Thai," was originally an art performed for the royal courts of old Siam. The dance troupeswere formed within the courts and their precision and beauty was the highlight of every performance.

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Gloria Winthrop

Today, although "Fawn Thai" is still a very important part of royal performances, the dancers are selected and trained from among the general population and dance performances themselves are often an event for the general public.

"Fawn Thai" in five styles or forms is usually
performed by four to six pairs of dancers, and on some very important occasions it is performed by hundreds. There are five "Fawn Thai" styles: "Fawn Tian" or the Candle Dance; "Fawn Leb" or the Fingernail Dance; "Fawn Ngiew" or the Scarf Dance; "Fawn
Marn Gumm Ber" or the Butterfly Dance; and
"Fawn Marn Mong Kol" or the Happy Dance. Each of these is accompanied by a special orchestra of traditional Thai musical instruments and each has its distinctive tempo and movement.

The accoutrements of the dancers as they perform the respective dances help a great deal in projecting a special flare and in highlighting hand movements, such an essential feature of Thai Dance. In the "Fawn Tian", for example, dancers hold lighted candles, while in the "Fawn Leb" they were six-inch-long brass nails and in the others they make use of various lengths of scarves. The "Fawn Tian" and the "Fawn Leb" were once sacred dances performed at court functions on days of special festivals. Because of their special significance and the similarity of instruments accompanying
in the orchestra, they were usually performed on the same day.

The "Fawn Tian" or Candle Dance consists of four pairs of dancers carrying lighted candles in each hand. The choreographed stage position is usually four on the right and four on the left in an inverted wing formation with the traditional Thai orchestra at the wing-point behind. Dressed in full-length sarongs and
jackets with matching shoulder cloth, the eight female dancers wear floral headpieces and hold the candles between thumb and forefinger. The movement is gentle and slow with short steps and stately swaying of the
shoulders and upper torso. This dance is always held at night and the slow graceful movement of the dancers with the candle flames flickering gently in the sway is a
hypnotic and mesmerizing spectacle.

The orchestra for both the "Fawn Tian" and the "Fawn Leb" consists of five to seven musicians playing the traditional Siamese instruments of the Glong Aw, the Bpee Mon, the Mon Tapone, the Glong Talod, the Sharb Yai, the Shing and the Mong. The orchestra is always seated in the traditional lotus position with the player of the Ranad, a long xylophone-like instrument, in the center and the others around him. Their dress or the simple color and fabric of the province, in Chiang Mai blue, for example; and their position on stage is either to rear or to the side of the dancers.

These classical Thai Dance performances can be seen today at various artistic and cultural centers in the Old Chiang Mai Cultural Center; at Khantoke Dinner Shows such as those at Lanna Khantoke, Mae Ping Hotel, Lotus P S K Hotel and at certain centers in Chiang Mai's Night Bazaar areas such as Galare Food Center.