ANALYSIS OF THE ROLE OF FIRE FOR THE PROOF FROM LITERATURE AND DANCING ART WORK

Abstract

           This research is a part of a thesis of Creation of Dancing Art titled “the Relation between Fire
and Human”. The important objectives of the study were to find a guideline to produce a creative
performance of dancing art under the acting interpretation of fire and human in Thai literature, and to
utilize analytical results as a guideline to create a form of dance performance from the relationship
between fire and human in Thai literature. This creative research was completed by the qualitative
research methodology. The data was collected from documentaries, interviews, participative fieldwork,
media, criteria of artist’s standard and researcher’s personal experience.
          The results of research showed that fire was closely related to human being in the literature.
The researcher noted the denotation of meaning as well as the usage of the fire as various symbols in
the literature, for example; the use of the fire as a symbol of loyalty, a substitute of purity, a choice by
drawing lots, a trick and revival, among others. The researcher produced a guideline to create a form of
the work performance creation by choosing fire as a symbol of proof of purity. In Thai literature, fire was
used as various proofs in order to communicate that the heat of fire was used as a test of purity and this
idea has made such an interesting acting form that is taken for the creation of dancing art work performance
further.
          In the dancing art work of the 1st act, the researcher focused on highlighting the dominant feature
of fire in the literature field as a proof of purity as the inspiration for the work performance creation. The
researcher studied the framework from Khun Chang Khun Phaen in the episode of Soifa and Srimala in
fire walk as they must participate in the fire walk ceremony because of the defamation, and the process
of entering into the fire walk ceremony, from Ramakien in the episode that Rama invites Sita to go back
to Ayodhya together, among others. With the power of purity, the proving person can walk through the
bonfire easily. According to Khun Chang Khun Phaen in the episode of Soifa and Srimala in fire walk, the
researcher noted the importance of point of view at the end of the acting and it is determined that
various defamatory persons were therefore burnt and destroyed by ashes of the bonfire when the
ceremony finished. The important issue of the society from the literature was reflected for producing a
dancing art work performance showing that malicious persons will eventually lose to virtue and uprightness.