Not child abuse but Thai culture! - where students suffer agonies for the sake of classical dance

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Not child abuse but Thai culture! - where students suffer agonies for the sake of classical dance

 

Picture: Thai Rath

 

ANG THONG: -- A teacher and his 13 year old student have become internet celebrities after a million people watched a video of training for Thai classical dance.

 

The video - in two parts - was posted by a teacher called "Bom", 29, who was training secondary students in the art of dancing for the Khon performance at an Ang Thong school, reported Thai Rath.

 

In the clips the boy called Sermsin or "Nong Arm" 13, who is in M2 or year nine, is going through the agonies of doing the splits.

 

But this is not child abuse that we often read about happening in Thai schools. It is a necessary part of training.

 

All male Khon dancers have to do this whether they are playing monkey or demon characters.

 

Khon is considered the highest of the Thai dance arts. A classical Khon performance usually depicts scenes from the Ramakien (the Thai version of the Ramayana epic from India). The movements are stylized and prescribed.

 

Apart from having to learn how to do the splits many dancers are forced to have their hands pushed back to meet their lower forearms.

 

Thais online commented in their thousands giving support and encouragement to the boy and the teacher.

 

The boy was praised for going through such pain for the sake of Thai culture while the teacher was praised for keeping such Thai traditions alive.

 

In his post on Facebook the teacher called on his students to put up with the pain for the benefit of improving themselves and becoming dancers while Thai Rath said that the clip displayed the "loveable innocence of youth".

 

Source: Thai Rath

 

-- © Copyright Thai Visa News 2017-05-25

[Lung Mike]

No excuses for child abuse! This is simple backwardness. If a teacher would do that to my child, I would personally reconfigure his limbs.

[hansnl]

4 minutes ago, Lung Mike said:

No excuses for child abuse! This is simple backwardness. If a teacher would do that to my child, I would personally reconfigure his limbs.

Ever saw ballet training in the western countries?

Do you know how much pain this brings?

Or maybe gymnastics?

Swimming?

Ever wondered about the malformed bodies of those children.

Your reaction just illustrates your medieval misinformed vigilante ideas.

[Jeremy50]

No difference from young dancers training in ballet schools in Russia, France and Britain, hoping that they one day will be able to join the Bolshoi, The Kirov, The Paris, The Scala or the Royal Ballet companies. No use starting at 18 to be a top dancer, 8 is more likely. Though I would have thought they might have a specialist school for training young Thai dancers, where the progress of dancers can be followed more carefully.

[wvavin]

This is nothing new as compared to China's young children being canned during acrobatic training sessions.

[katana]

The clip in question:

 

 

Edited May 25, 2017 by katana

[TSF]

Not even Thai culture, it's stolen Cambodian culture.

[jaiyen]

What about all the pain and suffering learning Martial Arts ?  Thanks to my instructors who were highly skilled in training students, I have led a healthy life and can still do the splits at 63. Much to the shock of girls in the bar. That young kid is only doing a stretching exercise. Same in a lot of dance styles.  If they think its cruel, just look at a Muay Thai training camp and see what the youngsters go through. They all do it cos they want to and love it .

[dieseldave1951]

2 hours ago, Lung Mike said:

No excuses for child abuse! This is simple backwardness. If a teacher would do that to my child, I would personally reconfigure his limbs.

so your child is going to go through life with an over bearing parent who thinks she\he is made of glass mollie-coddling your kid will be counter productive 

read it again the student want's to do this and its a Thai culture going back years 

you must have been bought up wrapped in cotton wool in your child years take your blinkers off see it for what it is not what you think

Edited May 25, 2017 by dieseldave1951

[YetAnother]

any more questions on thailand's 3rd world status ?

[Orton Rd]

1 hour ago, TSF said:

Not even Thai culture, it's stolen Cambodian culture.

But unlike muay thai, also nicked,  classical dance is of almost no interest to anyone

[Graemej100]

3 hours ago, Lung Mike said:

No excuses for child abuse! This is simple backwardness. If a teacher would do that to my child, I would personally reconfigure his limbs.

You not understand Thainess. Stupid falang.

 

[madusa]

3 hours ago, Lung Mike said:

No excuses for child abuse! This is simple backwardness. If a teacher would do that to my child, I would personally reconfigure his limbs.

For the sake of art you will torture your body and mind. Van Gogh cut off one of his ear to give you the beautiful pictures he painted. Anyone understand the mental torture he went through?

Don Mclean song, Starry Starry Night-  "  "How you suffer for your sanity, How you try to set them free, They would not listen and they don't know how".......

I love watching Classical Thai dancing, well, this child had to suffer to give me the pleasure of watching his dance.

[YetAnother]

my thai wife used that the first few years we lived here: "that is thai tradition"; she stopped doing it when she realized how stupid it was and how i valued that comment NOT AT ALL

Edited May 25, 2017 by YetAnother
keyboard error

[Jeremy50]

1 hour ago, madusa said:

For the sake of art you will torture your body and mind. Van Gogh cut off one of his ear to give you the beautiful pictures he painted. Anyone understand the mental torture he went through?

Don Mclean song, Starry Starry Night-  "  "How you suffer for your sanity, How you try to set them free, They would not listen and they don't know how".......

I love watching Classical Thai dancing, well, this child had to suffer to give me the pleasure of watching his dance.

A bit difficult to equate the physical suffering of dancers and athletes with the tortured minds of artistic geniuses. Van Gogh cut off a small part of his ear, put it in a match box and presented it to his favorite prostitute. This strange gesture was probably as a result of a mad weekend of drinking and fighting with his chum Paul Gaugin in the South of France, which could have resulted in the death of either one of them. Gogh and Gaugin were both very regular customers at French brothels [maison de tolerance], and it's likely both had syphillis.  Gaugin died from the advanced stages of the disease a few later in Tahiti.

[moe666]

Get over it boys you can sure tell the few who were never pushed beyond endurance to accomplish something. My son while studying  for his masters had various abnormal experiences due to sleep deprivation.

[Trouble]

Most of that is nothing more than stretching the muscles, etc. to be more flexible.  Anyone getting older can clearly identify with things they could do as a youth and the things they cannot do as older people do to lack of flexibility and atrophy of muscles.  All sorts of physical activity require flexibility.  Nothing out of the ordinary here. Happy to see the kids learning this and probably good physical conditioning for them as well. 

[ratcatcher]

5 hours ago, TSF said:

Not even Thai culture, it's stolen Cambodian culture.

And where do you suppose the Khmers got their culture from?

The Ramayana is a Hindu epic from  which the Siamese(Ramakien)  and Khmers developed their own versions.

[crystal sauce]

You call this child abuse !!!?

[crystal sauce]

13 hours ago, katana said:

The clip in question:

 

 

At least TVF news team can learn from you so we don't have to look for videos some where else?

[wprime]

7 hours ago, Trouble said:

Most of that is nothing more than stretching the muscles, etc. to be more flexible.  Anyone getting older can clearly identify with things they could do as a youth and the things they cannot do as older people do to lack of flexibility and atrophy of muscles.  All sorts of physical activity require flexibility.  Nothing out of the ordinary here. Happy to see the kids learning this and probably good physical conditioning for them as well. 

Yep, it's actually good for you.

[jamesmith]

It is normal training, yes it is painful but it only hurts a little, after the training, you will feel much better.  All sport training has pain.

I had that training from my father , it hurts a little for one or two days but after you feel good.