Abstract

Jukka O. Miettinen:  Dance Images in Temples of Mainland Southeast Asia (Acta Scenica 20)

Doctoral dissertation 24.5.2008
Theatre Academy
Department of Research Development / Department of Dance

This dissertation analyses dance images in the region of mainland Southeast Asia in the context in which most of them have originally been created, i.e. as an integral part of temples and their iconographical programmes. It investigates the transformation of the dance images, their symbolic meaning as a part of temple architecture, and further analyses what kind of information they thus convey about dance, its history, forms and its role in the cultures of mainland Southeast Asia. After an overview of the formulation of dance images in India and in early Southeast Asia the focus is on the temple imagery of 12th Angkor Wat in present-day Cambodia, of the ruined 10th–13th century city of Pagan in the Myanmar of today, and finally of Wat Phra Keo, the royal temple annexed to the Grand Palace in Bangkok, founded at the very end of the 18th century.

The introductory chapter presents an adaptation of the dance iconographical method appropriate to the Southeast Asian temple context. A wide definition of the term “dance” is also provided. Two different terms for art works portraying dance are defined: a “dance image” refers to sculptures, reliefs, paintings or graphic works which could be interpreted as depicting the act of dancing, while a “dance-related image” refers to those showing, for example, poses connected to the martial arts, rituals and ceremonies etc.

This author argues that when one applies the traditional “three step” technique of dance iconography to the temple-related Southeast Asian dance images, it is inevitable that the process of analysis becomes more complex than if it is applied to separate images belonging to the western culture. Thus this study covers several contexts within which the images are interpreted. They include history, dance history, art history, and of crucial importance, the history and symbolism of temple architecture and so the “three-step” analysis technique of dance iconography is expanded to a “four-step” method.

The four successive steps of this analysis technique include (1) recognising a dance image among other kinds of imagery, (2) analysing the subject matter of the image, (3) considering why the figure or figures in the image in question are dancing, and, finally, (4) observing the dance images specifically in the temple context. This dissertation argues that if one applies this method the dance images reveal several things: their possible Indian prototypes, the extent to which the Indian-influenced dance images are localised, their relationship with the textual sources and, finally, when observed within their architectural context, the general attitudes toward dance in their respective religions and cultures.

Key words: dance iconography, dance research, southeast asian studies, dance history of southeast asia, art and architecture of southeast asia