Na Phat Dance by Lady Nattaganurak (Tet Suwannapart)

Abstract

The objectives of this research were to study the grateful dancing poses and the guidelines for dance choreography by Khunying Nattaganurak (Tet Suwannapart). It was a qualitative research design. The data were collected by studying from the relevant documents (literature review), using non-participation observation from the video media, and using a structured interview. There were 4 key informants who related to Ram Na Phat (Na Phat Dance) by Khunying Nattaganurak (Tet Suwannapart) and were transmitted the dancing postures of Na Phat Dance by Mr. Somyot Piamlap or Mr. Venich Chianwong for at least 10 years. The content analysis was used in this research and the data were examined by triangulation. The research results were found that there were 31 songs that were played along with Na Phat Dance poses of the Lady. The postures consisted of sitting dance poses, standing dance poses, and sitting dance poses at the beginning, and standing dance poses until the end of a song. If beginning with the standing poses, 3 kinds of dance poses of male dancers will be used. Mostly, the dance poses were from Tam Ra Ram (treatise on Thai Dance) which sorted the dance poses from the lower part (waist) to the upper part (head). In respect of Pleng Rua (Rua Song), there were dance poses of Rua La Deaw and Rua Cha-poh. Aside from this, the guidelines for dance choreography by Khunying Nattaganurak consisted of 4 guidelines as followed: 1. Using the organ postures and alignment based on Thai dancing arts, 2. Using the dance poses of Tam Ra Ram (treatise on Thai Dance) as major dance poses which followed the meaning of Na Phat Song and each dance pose sorted from lower to upper part, 3. Using 4 directions of dance poses, but mostly 3 directions would be used, and 4. Using one same area; without position arrangement or moving into multiple positions. Although Na Phat Dance poses by Khunying Nattaganurak (Tet Suwannapart) have not been used for many performances, the knowledge or wisdom of dance choreography has remained. Thus, this should be conserved as the crucial art heritage of the Thai dance arts.