Mantra Siam
Mantra Siam Dance Company was founded in 1994 by a group of professional artists from Thailand who sought to promote traditional Thai culture through a contemporary lens. Most of the founding members had also spent time in Los Angeles where they forged relationships with the Thai Town community of East Hollywood. They taught dance at Wat Thai Temple and helped form a bond between performers at home and abroad.
Community
When the members moved back to their home country, they had a desire to continue a bilateral relationship between Los Angeles and Thailand. In order to do so, when they perform in Los Angeles, they invite students of Wat Thai to participate. In the beginning phases of a production, choreographers in Thailand will send videos of the dances to the Los Angeles-based students who then practice for months prior to the performance. Two weeks before the show, choreographers and producers travel to Los Angeles where professional dancers practice with the student dancers and perfect the routines.
Each show, is a spectacle of colors and sounds. While the performances incorporate traditional Thai mythology, spirituality, movements, and music, they also mix in Western sounds and modern dance. The result is an artistic and contemporary piece of art that respects and celebrates ancient culture.
- Folk Arts
- Dance
- Heritage
- Education
Media
I mix it and combine it. You can expect Thai traditional movement combined with ballet, jazz dance, modern dance, and Latin dance with Western music in the background and traditional Thai melody and authentic Thai musical instruments - Chotiros Viboonlarp, Producer
