UMS Concert Program, October 14, Is, 16, 1962: Chamber Dance Festival -- Kovach And Rabovsky

Season: Eighty-fourth
Complete Series: 3360
Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor, Michigan

1962 Eighty-fourth Season 1963
UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
Charles A. Sink, President Gail W. Rector, Executive Director Lester McCoy, Conductor
Chamber Dance Festival
KOVACH and RABOVSKY
THE PHAKAVALI
JOSE MOLINA BAILES ESPANOLES
October 14, 15, 16, 1962
Rackham Auditorium Ann Arbor, Michigan
Second Program
The Steinway is the official piano of the University Musical Society ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS
THE PHAKAVALI
Dancers of Thailand
with PI-PHAT ORCHESTRA
From the Phakavali Theatre, Bangkok Prasidh Silapabanleng, Ladda Silapabanleng, Directors Tour under the auspices of the Asia Society Performing Arts Program
Musicians Siri Nakdontri, Nigom Sagarik, Kdrai Prongnamchai, Duang Nakdontri
Monday, October 15, 1962, at 8:30
PROGRAM
YU-NGID
Shrikanya Saratayon, Sudarat Saratayon, Keskeo Masavisudhi, Saismorn Shammali
A ceremony of invocation and blessing. By their subtle grace and exalted demeanor one can tell that these are celestial beings meeting in Indra's Heaven for a celebration. It is a dance of joy ending in the blessing of Flower Petals.
Though it is a court dance in the high style of the Siamese court, where kings were choreographers and dramatists, this is also a religious dance showing early Hindu influence. Its origins are very ancient, but a recent version, out of which this comes, was ordained by King Monghut (Rama IV). In this version it is about 200 years old and is named for its music, which dates to the Ayudhya Period, when Ayudhya was the capital of the Kings.
MANOHRA'S DANCE (Taken from the classical dance-drama "Prince Suthon and Manohra")
Valyalada Silapabanleng
Manohra, a beautiful princess of the Kinnara (half-bird, half-human creatures), was captured by Pran Boon, the Hunter, and presented to Prince Suthon and became his beloved consort. Through the machinations of an evil court astrologer, the Prince was lured away to a far off battle.
Manohra, alone now and helpless, was sentenced to be burnt alive to avert disaster to the state, predicted by the astrologer.
Before being sacrificed, Manohra asked permission to perform a dance for the Gods in her natural bird state, that is, with wings. Then, she flew away and returned to the Kinnara. This solo sequence is her dance to the Gods.
HANUMAN AND BENCHAKAI
Keskeo Masavisudhi, Siri vat Sirisampan
This dance comes out of the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Indian epic, the Itamayana, chronicle of Rama's crusade against the demons.
Thosakarn, the Demon King, after kidnapping Rama's consort, Sita, wished to make the Prince believe that she was dead. With demonic guile he commanded his beautiful niece, Benchakai, to transform herself into a semblance of Sita floating down the river to Prince Rama's camp, to the place where he would come to bathe. So perfect was the deception that Rama believed the beautiful Sita to be drowned, and his grief was great. But Hanuman, his Monkey General, was sceptical. He requested permission to burn the body.
As soon as Benchakai felt the heat, she fled through the air but was followed and captured by the wily Hanuman.
SUD JATRI
Saismorn Shammali
A ceremonial dance honoring all great teachers, masters of the arts, and all great dancers gone before. Originally a folk dance of Southern Thailand, this is believed to be the prototype
of all classical Thai dance. But it is also, by tradition, the prologue to a type of drama, the Nohra Chatri, which is, itself, the prototype of all Thai drama. It is also an example of the Siamese gift for translating folk material into classical form and style.
RUM KRATOB MAI--"Dance Between Clashing Poles"
Sudarat Saratayon, Valyalada Silapabanleng, Shrikanya Saratayon, Naree Vidyasilpa
This began as a folk dance, a true work dance or harvest game, from Northeast Thailand where it evolved out of the merrymaking at the end of the day's labor. The Thai, who cannot resist making rhythm instruments out of anything at hand and cannot resist turning anything, foreign customs or village games, into drama or dance, have developed the very threshing of rice into a dance-game, requiring the most adept footwork. The hard wood rice poles, which are beaten together to thresh the rice, are both the "percussion accompaniment" and the hazard of the game. For the dancers must dance between the clashing poles.
INTERMISSION
FON-LEB--"The Fingernail Dance"
Keskeo Masavisudhi, Shrikanya Saratayon, Valyalada Silapabanleng, Sudarat Saratayon, Naree Vidyasilpa, Saismorn Shammali
A court dance, which grew out of a regional ceremony of Northern Siam, in which the court ladies appeared under the window of the King to do him homage, serenading him, as it were, with formal dance. In the Chinese tradition, long fingernails were not only an attribute of feminine beauty but a sign of leisure aristocracy.
Originally the Lantern Dance, danced at evening in the courtyard, it has now moved indoors to the palace for special ceremonials. The lanterns were abandoned. The elegant fingernails of the court ladies were painted bronze, and then they were replaced by even brighter and longer ones, artificial fingernails of gold. Now, the "fingernails outshine the lanterns," and the Fon Leb has become the favorite, ahead of the Lantern Dance.
RANAAD SOLO
Siri Nakdontri, with orchestra
The Thai people have adopted and adapted more instruments than almost any other people of the East. But the Renaad, a kind of alto xylophone with bamboo keys, is unique and their own. It grew out of a simple wooden block, struck to warn the village or tell the hours of day and night.
SWORD DANCE
Sirivat Sirisampan, Duang Nakdontri
This is a dance in name only, and only in its formal preliminaries, the stylized figures representing "standing on guard," "checking," "parrying,"--yes, and "swaggering," like a proper hero of ancient times. After that it is actual combat.
It may be the most ancient dance in the repertory, dating to the heroic age, when the Mons Tribe, forbears of the Thai, were beating a valiant retreat in the face of the hordes of Ghengis Khan, and when there was an "elite guard" called "The Swords-in-two-Hands-Unit." It is still used for training warriors and for military celebrations. The title of the music is a clue: "Mons Men Demonstrating their Swordsmanship."
RUM KLONG--"The Drum Dance"
Keskeo Masavisudhi, Shrikanya Saratayon, Valyalada Silapabanleng, Sudarat Saratayon, Naree Vidyasilpa, Saismorn Shammali
Many Thai dances are named poetically for the sound of the instruments. Rum means dance, and Klong is the name of a drum. The Drum Dance of the Phakavali, however, involves several types of drums, some in the orchestra, some in the arms of these musician-dancers.
In origin a folk dance believed to have been borrowed from neighboring countries, it is now thoroughly converted into the Thai style. The basic dance, of which this is a formalized version, is used in processions, either to conduct a monk-to-be to the Buddhist monastery or to take gifts to the monks.
Complete Series 3360
1962 UNIVERSITY MUSICAL SOCIETY PRESENTATIONS 1963
All presentations are at 8:30 p.m. unless otherwise noted. HILL AUDITORIUM
Choral Union Series
"La Traviata" (Verdi opera)......Friday, October 19
French National Orchestra.....Wednesday, October 24
Shankar--Hindu Dance Company .... Tuesday, November 6
Lenincrad Philharmonic......Monday, November 12
?"Marriage of Figaro" (Mozart opera) . . . Saturday, November 17
Gerakd Souzay, Baritone.......Tuesday, January 8
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra .... Thursday, February 14
Toronto Symphony Orchestra......Tuesday, March 12
San Francisco Ballet........Friday, March 22
Standing room only
Extra Series
"The Sound of Music" .... (8:00) Wednesday, October 31
National Ballet of Canada......Friday, November 9
"Rigoletto" (Verdi opera) .... (2:30) Sunday, November 18 Hamburg Symphony Orchestra .... Wednesday, January 16 Birgit Nilsson, Soprano........Monday, March 18
Standing room only
Messiah
Saturday, December 1, at 8:30, and Sunday, December 2, at 2:30
University Choral Union with Guest Soloists
and University Symphony Orchestra
Tickets: $2.00--$1.50--$1.00 and 75tf
Special Recital
Artur Rubinstein, Pianist......Thursday, February 7
Tickets: $4.00--$3.50--$3.00--$2.25--$1.50
Ann Arbor May Festival
Philadelphia Orchestra in six concerts .... May 9, 10, 11, 12
RACKHAM AUDITORIUM
Chicago Little Symphony .... (2:30) Sunday, December 9
Tickets: $2.50 and $2.00
Chamber Music Festival
Budapest String Quartet . . February 20, 21, 22, 23, & (2:30) 24
Complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets
Series Tickets: $10.00 and $7.00
Julian Bream, Guitarist and Lutist . . . (2:30) Sunday, March 31 Tickets on sale January 10 -$2.50 and $2.00
For tickets and information, address: University Musical Society, Burton Memorial Tower