Thai "Tribal Village" Dances

I found Thai "Tribal" dances much more enjoyable than the classical Lanna dances. They were more upbeat, the costumes were more divers, and the "stories" told by the dancers seemed more interesting. I also liked that, contrary to the classical dances that we saw earlier in the evening, the performers were also more diverse: there were equal number of men and women and there was a significant number of older people performing, as well as kids.

Also the atmosphere was more to my liking: it was more casual and relaxed. Many dances, especially the ones performed by the kids, seemed not well rehearsed, but nobody seemed to mind: neither the performers, nor the audience.

Overall we got to see twelve performances, some good, some not so much–but I guess that's to be expected. As an example, the photo below is from a performance that I had trouble appreciating.

But most performances were fun to watch, like for example the drum show pictured below.

My absolute favorite performance was by a group of kids jumping over rhythmically moving wooden poles. Not only was it a very original dance, but also kids seemed to have a lot of fun performing.

Dance with fire was quite interesting, too.

And here are exemplary photos from the other seven performances.