The Herbst Theatre in San Francisco is presenting Khon dance performance by the "Thai Royal Ballet" from Thailand from February 18 through May 8, 2005. The "Royal Thai Ballet" troupe are professional performers from the National Theatre of Thailand's under the Thai Department of Fine Arts. Each of the Khon dancers has been trained in the art of classical Thai dance and traditional Thai music from a young age by the National Theatre of Thailand.
Khon is the most sophisticated of the classical dance dramas in Thailand which consists of traditional Thai music combined with a nearly acrobatic but very elegant dance and ballet performance. The beautiful Khon Masks, cumbersome headdresses and elaborated costumes demand an ultimate control of the Khon dancers.
In ancient Siam (Thailand) it was only Royalty and high-ranking aristocracy that could maintain a Khon dance troupe and Khon performances were only given on very special occasions and Royal ceremonies.
The last Royal Khon dance troupe at the Thai court was broken up in the year 1930 and the court performers became official teachers and preservers of Thai classical dance and music under the Department of Fine Arts of Thailand.
The Khon ballet is based on the Ramakian or Ramakien epic, which is the Thai version of the Indian Ramayana, written some 2,000 years ago by Valmiki, an Indian poet. The Gods and Demons in the Khon dance belong to the ancient Hindu religion and not to the Theravada Buddhism of Thailand, as most art traditions in ancient Siam (Thailand) were based on the Hindu culture and religion from India.
The Thai Ramakien on which the Khon dance is based is the tale of two rival cities: Ayutthaya, the capital of the Gods, and Langka, the city of the Demons. The epic gyrates around the battle of Good and Evil with the main action focusing on the tribulations of Prince Rama from Ayutthaya and the abduction of his beautiful wife Sita, with as finale the defeat of the Langka Demons by Hanuman, the magical white monkey warrior and his army of monkey soldiers from Ayutthaya.
Originally, before the 14th century in Thailand, faces of Khon dancers were painted but later masks were used and those Khon Masks slowly became the most important parts of the Khon performance. Fantastic Khon masks were created with each of the Khon masks given its own characteristics and magical powers, with as result that those Khon mask now have their own elaborated history in the Thai Ramakien.
Nowadays in Thailand, the Royal Thai Ballet group under the Music and Drama Division from the Ministry of Culture of Thailand promotes and preserves the Nation's heritage of Thai classical performing arts such as Khon, Lakhon and traditional Thai music in the highest degree of tradition and perfection. The major task of the Royal Thai Ballet group is the promotion of Thai classical performing arts by giving worldwide presentations of all forms of traditional performing arts from Thailand.
The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is presenting, in the Herbst Theatre, in conjunction with its exhibition "The Kingdom of Siam: The Art of Central Thailand in 1350–1800" a performance by the "Royal Thai Ballet" group, opening February 18 through May 8, 2005. This exhibition is the first to explore Thailand's golden era during the Ayutthaya period.
Highlights from the exhibition include ancient Royal golden jewelry and ceremonial artifacts discovered in the temples of Ayutthaya. Giant bronze and stone Buddha statues, sculptures of Hindu deities, antique wood carvings, textiles and temple decorations from the Ayutthaya period will also be on display.
