Imperial Court Dances
Accompanied with Nhã nhạc (court music of the Trần Dynasty to the Nguyễn Dynasty) were the intricate dances of the Vietnamese Imperial court. Nhã Nhạc means "elegant music" when translated. While assuredly court dances existed before nhã nhạc in particular emerged, it is the Nguyễn Dynasty form that is still highly preserved today, and has been declared along with the whole of nhã nhạc as an Intangible cultural heritage.
These dances require great skill and the dancers are often dressed in extravagant costumes. Currently, they are performed at festivals in Huế (múa cung đình Huế - court dance) or other special (often televised) occasions, in order to promote the traditional arts. Some of the most popular dances include (among others):
- Fan dance - vũ phiến
- Lantern dance - lục cúng hoa đăng
- Lotus dance - múa sen, múa bài bông
- Flag dance
- Platter dance - múa mâm
- Candle dance
- Incense dance
- Hat dance - múa nón
- Scarf dance
- Lion dance - múa lân
The meaning of "múa" extends to water puppetry - múa rối nước
Read more about this topic: Traditional Vietnamese Dance
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—Apocrypha. Ecclesiasticus, 44:14.
The line “their name liveth for evermore” was chosen by Rudyard Kipling on behalf of the Imperial War Graves Commission as an epitaph to be used in Commonwealth War Cemeteries. Kipling had himself lost a son in the fighting.
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—Pierre Corneille (1606–1684)
“When I wrote of the women in their dances and wildness, it was a mask,
on their mountain, gold-hunting, singing, in orgy,
it was a mask; when I wrote of the god,
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...
No more masks! No more mythologies!”
—Muriel Rukeyser (1913–1980)