Khon

Khon is a Thai traditional dance which combines many arts like dance and drama. The provenance of Khon was based on Ramayana and later developed to Ramakien in the Thai style. Moreover it is mentioned in Thai literature's Lilit Phra Lo (c. 1529) which was written before the reign of King Narai. performed in Berlin, 1900 Historical evidence shows that the Thai art of stage plays must have already been highly evolved by the 17th century. In 1687, King Louis XIV of France sent a diplomat Simon de la Loubère to record all that he saw in the Ayutthaya Kingdom. In his famous account Du Royaume de Siam, La Loubère carefully observed the classic 17th century theatre of Siam, including an epic battle scene from a Khon performance, and recorded what he saw in great detail: Of the attire of Siamese Khôn dancers, La Loubère recorded that, "[T]hose that dance in Rabam, and Cone, have gilded paper-bonnets, high and pointed, like the Mandarins caps of ceremony, but which hang down at the sides below their ears, which are adorned with counterfeit stones, and with two pendants of gilded wood." ==Characters==

Khon roles are dictated by long-standing tradition. The principal characters are the heroes, the heroines, the ogres, and the monkeys. The monkeys are some of the most important roles in Khon. The best-known monkey characters in the story is the monkey warrior Hanuman. Modern Khon contains many elements from the lakhon nai and today, includes female performers playing female characters, formerly performed by men. While the ogre and monkey characters wear masks, most of the human characters do not. ==Performances==

Khon is based on the tales of the epic Ramakien (Thai adaptation of Indian Hindu epic Ramayana), as Thai literature and drama draws great inspiration from Indian arts and legend. Khon Ramakien originally could be performed by men only. Women performed only as angels and goddesses. Today women perform as monkeys and demons. In the past, Khon was performed only by the royal family, with the sons of the king performing as monkeys and demons. Thai Khon stresses realistic dance moves, especially the monkey, which focuses on beauty and fine monkey-like dancing postures. Khon training is begun at a very young age, so that the performer can become flexible enough to do back flips, especially by the Vanara (forest dwellers or monkey) character. ==Gallery==

File:Khon mask in National Museum.jpg|Ancient Khon masks in Bangkok National Museum File:Atthami Bucha Festival Laplae Uttaradit 03.jpg|Khon performance at Atthami Bucha Festival in Wat Phra Borom That Thung Yang, Uttaradit province File:Khon Dance Frankfurt Germany 2006.jpg|Khon performance at Frankfurt and Mainz, Germany File:Korea-Andong-Hahoe Folk Village-Thai dancer-01.jpg|Khon performance at Hahoe Folk Village in Andong, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea File:Atthami Bucha Festival Laplae Uttaradit 02.jpg|Khon performance at Atthami Bucha Festival in Wat Phra Borom That Thung Yang, Uttaradit province File:Actor Maiyarap Celebrate The Masked Play.jpg|The Khon Masked Play "The Battle of Maiyarap" at the main hall, Thailand Cultural Centre File:Thailand Cultural Centre 3.jpg|Khon performance at the main hall, Thailand Cultural Centre File:Cast_members_of_khon,_1900.png|Cast members of Thai Khon, 1900 File:Siamese Actors representing a Princess.gif|Khon actors representing a Princess, 1900 File:An_Thai_khon_actor_as_Prince.png|Khon actor as a Prince, 1900 File:Siamese_khon_actors_rehearse,_1900.gif|Khon actors rehearse, 1900 File:Asitique 1.jpg|Khon performance at Asiatique, Thailand File:Bhutesavara 3.jpg|Khon mask shop, Bhutesavara ==See also==