Buddhist Dance Drama at the British Library

Mahajanaka Dance Drama - UK Tour November 2019 from Sebastian Reynolds on Vimeo.

Neon Dance is bringing a new multi-disciplinary music and dance drama to the British Library on 16 and 17 November 2019. Mahajanaka Dance Drama is based on the South Asian myth 'Mahajanaka Jataka', and features Thai dance artist Pichet Saengkrai, composer Sebastian Reynolds along with traditional Thai musicians Pradit Saengkrai and Great Lekakul, in a work inspired by folk-tales about Buddha's previous lives.

The project has been mentored and supported by Buddhist scholar Dr Sarah Shaw, Fellow of The Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies at Oxford University. Dr Shaw’s translations of Jataka stories for Penguin Classics have been a great inspiration for the project

Reynolds has also produced an EP of music from the show, which is based around samples of the Thai traditional instruments the Pii-Nai, recorded during Sebastian’s British Council funded research and development trip to Bangkok in 2016. The EP also features a traditional Thai piece that features in the ‘Mahajanaka Dance Drama’ soundtrack, performed by Thai pi-phat ensemble The Jongkraben Ensemble. Available via his website.

The performances are part of a tour which continues to Derby (19/11/2019), Cambourne (20/11/2019) and Huntingdon (21/11/2019), see Sebastian Reynolds website for more details.