nang kham’s portfolio

Dance & Culture

DRAFT — Shan dance, kept up away from home.

DRAFT — she is Shan, or Tai Yai, from Shan State in eastern Myanmar. Shan dance is danced to drums, gongs and small hand cymbals, and it belongs to occasions rather than to stages — a new year, an ordination, a wedding.

DRAFT — she still dances for the festivals. It is the part of home that travels most easily: the costume folds flat, and the music is in everyone's phone.

PLACEHOLDER — a paragraph from her on what she dances, who she learned from, and where she performs now. Names and spellings below should be hers, not a stranger's guess.

• PLACEHOLDER — the kinnari, or bird, dance — DRAFT — check the name and spelling she uses. Danced in the costume of a kinnari, the half-bird figure, with the wings worked by hand.
• PLACEHOLDER — a drum and gong piece — DRAFT — the long drum, gongs and cymbals that Shan processions move to. Confirm what she actually performs to.
• Shan New Year — PLACEHOLDER — where she dances it, who with, and what it means to her.