Magical Hands of Raemker
By Richard Seah
12 October 2008
Raemker is the Cambodian version of the Hindu epic, Ramayana, a story of devotion, separation and union, of romance, myth and magic... of the fight between good and evil.
The performance was magical. It was simple and slow-moving, yet totally captivating. The accompanying music was, in the words of my artist / musician friend, "mind massage... sublime".
It was performed from October 9 to 12 as part of the Da:ns Festival 2008 organised by The Esplanade, Singapore. Fortunately for me, I found out in time to catch the last two performances on a Sunday night.
In many Southeast Asian dance performaces, the artistes pay great attention to the posture and movements of the hands.
Given my interest in photographs of hands, this suited me perfectly. I plonked myself at the front row - with my Fuji S5 Pro and Nikkor 73-300 zoom lens - and happily snapped away.
Another piece of detail, told at the end of the performance, is that the costumes are so elaborate that the dancers take more than three hours to dress up!
Next weekend, there will be another performance of the Ramayana, this time from Bali. You can be sure I will be there again!
4 Responses
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On 12 October 2008 Tony Edwards gave props:
Another great essay!
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On 13 October 2008 J Battaglia gave props:
Nicely done!
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On 14 October 2008 dominic serrao gave props:
great series!!!
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On 15 October 2008 Susan Corsetti gave props:
This is great
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