2.4

Dancing Marionette

In Burmese puppet theatre, the puppet နတ်ကတော်ရုပ် (nat kadaw) plays an important role:

it is a medium between the human world and the world of the nats (spirits). The marionette has special joints in its arms and additional strings that allow it to be moved very delicately to song and music – as if it were dancing.

Puppet: nat kadaw (နတ်ကတော်ရုပ်) Puppet construction and performance: not yet established Date: approx. 1950-1970, Mandalay region, Myanmar Material: wood, textile Provenance: not yet established