The Pattaya Issan Association plans to use dance performances to raise the group’s profile and better promote Thailand’s northeast region.
At a Feb. 28 press conference, association acting President Jinjutha Phothisa said a number of traditional dance performances will be scheduled throughout the Songkran (Thai New Year) celebration next month.
Students from Juthamas Beauty School perform the traditional Isaan dance ‘Bai Sri Suu Khwan’ for the wrist-binding with white string ceremony.
Twenty students from the Juthamas Beauty School previewed the dances with a performance of “Bai Sri Suu Khwan,” the traditional wrist-binding with white string ceremony performed on congratulatory occasions by Issan natives.
Jinjutha said Issan Association members throughout the country have been working for a decade to help preserve and publicize original northeast culture. The work done today, she said, will help new generations carry on the traditions.
The schedule for the April dances will be discussed at the group’s next meeting, Jinjutha added.
In Thailand’s northeast, where summers are hot and dry and winter months rainy and often flooded, the rural population has created musical and dance performances rooted in daily or seasonal activities, such as “Hae Nang Maew” (pray for rainfall ceremony), “Sueng Bang Fai” (also a ceremony for rainfall), “Sueng Swing” (a dance showing the techniques Issan residents catch aquatic animals), “Sueng Kratip” (one of the most popular Northeastern dances), and “Ram Laos Krathop Mai” (a game played by both males and females with two wooden sticks).
