World Cup kicks traditional dancers off stage

Thursday, 24 June 2010 12:05 Kyaw Kha

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burmese traditional dance troupes have had to postpone shows until the World Cup ends, putting about 2,000 performers temporarily out of work, dancers said yesterday.

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which will finish on July 11, has taken attention away from other forms of entertainment, forcing traditional theatre companies to shut down to avoid financial losses. The closures have also affected, backstage personnel and anyone else linked to such shows.

Forty-eight theatre troupes are registered with the Burmese Theatrical Association and an average of about 40 people work for each troupe.

Pantara U Mya Kyi, from a Sagaing theatre company said: “the World Cup has caused us a lot of problems. It’s really hit our income”.

Moe Win and Hanza Moe Win theatre group from Mandalay planned to perform onstage in Plake Township, Mandalay last week but the team had to put off their shows until the end of the World cup because very few people had bought tickets, a group manager said. Dates for the next performances remain undecided.

“We have postponed our shows, but after the World Cup we will entertain audiences again”, a troupe manager from the group told Mizzima, adding that three days of shows cancelled would cost the group about 4.2 million Kyats (about US$4,200).

Meanwhile the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported Fédération Internationale de Football Association (Fifa) president Sepp Blatter would visit Burma in November at the invitation of Zaw Zaw, chairman of the Burmese Football Federation. He invited Blatter while attending the 60th Fifa Congress in South Africa.