Thailand's artists correct double standards

Through dance, a group of Thai artists challenges the traditional values that have perpetuated inequality of men and women. Prangtip Daorueng of Inter Press Service reports.

BANGKOK: According to Thai literature, the goddess like Kaki of Buddhist mythology has had a poor reputation a 'loose' woman who betrayed her husband by allowing herself to be seduced by other men. Nowadays, her name is synonymous with adultery and is used as an insult for promiscuous women.

Such has been Kaki's reputation since her story first appeared when written by a Thai Prince in the late Ayutthaya period (before A.D. 1767). Like other stories in Thai literature, the story's original plot came from the Indian Kakatichataka episode, one of the hundreds of stories about Buddha's previous life.

The story goes that Kaki, the Queen of Benares, is expelled from the palace by her husband, King Bhramadhat, after she falls for two lovers the half human, half bird king Garuda, and the king's musician.

But Kaki's unsavory reputation down the ages now is being challenged by a group of Thai artists and their international dance colleagues from the Company of Performing Artists in their ballet called The Love Story of Kaki.

"If a woman is loose, they will say 'oh, she is such a Kaki'. This is the interpretation that can be found in any male dominated society, and it has been used to put women in their place," explained Thai ballet dancer Vararom Patchimsawat, who dances the lead role of Kaki in performances that been running for three months.

"But for me Kaki is a woman who sacrifices for the men she loves and who love her," she added. "In our dance piece, the way she is banished from town by her king husband means something opposite to the punishment. It means she gets her soul back and lives with her freedom at the end."

This presents a big challenge to the predominant message in much of Thai literature where women, who dare express their passion to someone apart from their husbands, end up dead, miserable, or condemned to some horrible fate.

Yet if the same behavior is done by men, it generally is applauded. Thai literature pictures respectable and powerful heroes, for example the charming Hanuman and many others, as men who are able to conquer as many women as they want.

Somtaw Sucharitksul, director and composer of The Love Story of Kaki, is a fiction writer who has been fascinated with her story for the last 21 years. "She is like the ultimate prostitute in many people's eyes," he says.

Through The Love Story of Kaki, he says he wanted to present Kaki in a more feminist way, by having her justify her action and face her new life optimistically. The dance performance ends with the king inconsolable over the loss of his beautiful wife.

The new interpretation of Kaki on stage was welcomed by audiences of both younger and older generation, but the same, old values still dominate Thai society.

"Thai women have been taught the value of having one lover for their whole lives, but this creates a problem. It shows the inequality of men and women in Thailand. I was also brought up that way (though) I know it is unfair (to women)," said Sidtichoke Waranusanikul, a psychology lecturer from Thammasat University in Bangkok.

Double standards for men and women's behavior persist. Although King Rama the Sixth passed a law preventing Thai men from taking more than one wife 80 years ago, the idea of men, regardless of income and class, having extramarital affairs is still widely accepted. But the performers in The Love Story of Kaki believe the dance is a small contribution by itself, as it forces a second look at the concept of heroes and heroines in Thai literature.

Vararom, who was trained in London's Royal Ballet, also created the dance piece out of an ambitious goal to blend Eastern and Western arts together.

Both Thai dancers and members of famous international ballet companies spent three months mixing Thai traditional dance with ballet. The outcome was impressive. In a sense, Kaki was able to express her passion perfectly with the help of two cultures.

Thai literature expert Noppon Prachakul says the best erotic scenes to be found in Thai literature were interpreted successfully on stage by Vararom as Kaki, and three male dancers. Vatcheslov Vetrov, a former Bolshoi Ballet principal who now teaches in Bangkok, danced the part of King Bhramadhat in traditional Western ballet.

Rambert Dance Company member Vincent Redmon played the musician Natkuven in modern dance style. But the one who critics say gives the most sensual performance was the Thai classical dancer, Pichet Kluncheun, who danced the role of Garuda, Kaki's passionate love.

The image of Garuda in purple and gold, moving with the slow, easy movements of Thai traditional dance, Kaki with long black hair in her red sari wildly giving herself to him still remains in the minds of the audience.

The message that Vararom wanted to impart through her performances is that Kaki is a woman whose soul is free. "She is a woman who is very happy with herself. I want the audience to see her as a liberated woman. It is not that she wants many, many men, but that she can express and do anything it is not actually bad," Vararom said.

Perhaps the new interpretation of Kaki's life is too much for many Thais, but whatever its effects are on the double standards in society, it was also able to raise money for a good cause. The ballet was able to raise US$330,000 for a Bangkok charity organization.

-- Inter Press Service