The dance halls of the Bayon era

Last update: December 5, 2023

In the dance halls of the three aforementioned temples show performances of female dancers. It is the same in the Bayon on the pillars of the outer gallery and the eight axial pavilions. But pillars and pilasters in Banteay Kdei and Bayon also show figures that we will call here “female dance masters”. We will briefly describe the locations where they are depicted.

In Bayon, large-format dancers are represented in high relief on the pediments of the doors opening onto the inner courtyard. On the pillars of the axial pavilions at the four main orients and four intermediate orients, dancers are shown alone, in mirrored pairs, or in threes (one large dancer in the upper register and two smaller ones in the lower, mirrored register). The outer gallery of the Bayon is lined with two rows of pillars. Most of the four sides of the inner row are decorated with a female dancer. The pilasters in the forebodies of these pavilions are carved with images of female dance masters, more rarely of dancers getting ready, and in two cases, a harpist.

In Preah Khan, on the interior pediments of the dance hall, high relief friezes depict dancers symmetrically on either side of a larger central dancer. Most of the pillars are carved with two dancers.

In Banteay Kdei, the pillars of the dance hall are carved with pairs of dancers.

In Bayon and Banteay Kdei, the pilasters of the forebodies of the axial pavilions are engraved, inside and/or outside, with scenes showing dancing mistresses and, more rarely, female musicians. Detailed typologies of these scenes will be developed later.

The Bayon, a state temple during the reign of the Royal Triad (Jayavarman VII and the Jayarājadevī and Indradevī), has eight dance halls distributed to the eight orients. Hypothetically, it is possible that each of these halls was dedicated to the people of the eight geographic areas of the kingdom as defined by the inscriptions on the eight alcoves of the central tower. 

We know from the epigraphy that a large number of servants, and especially dancers, were attached to the temples. The Ta Prohm’s stele translated by G. Coedès (1906) reveals figures that make you dizzy:
LXIII ... There are 400 men here, 18 main officiants, 2,740 officiants
LXIV ... 2,232 assistants, among whom 615 dancers (nāṭikāḥ)
LXV ...  In total 12,640 people, including those entitled to housing
LXVI ... 66,625 men and women do the service of the gods
LXVII ... In total 79,365 with the Burmese, the Chams, etc.

In Preah Khan (Preah Khan's stele, inscription K. 908), the number of dancers is more important:
4,606 men are cooks and other
2,298 are serving; 1,000 female dancers (nāṭikāḥ)

Could we define the nature of the ballet corps’ personnel? As already mentioned above, the iconography of the pillars of the dancers’ halls shows us two types of characters:

• The dancers proper, represented according to the temples and the locations, alone, by two in mirror, by three, or in long friezes (Preah Khan of Angkor). One can also see these same dancers get ready to go dancing, pay tribute to their dance master or receive advice from them.

• Dance masters, with or without their student, represented as mature women recognizable by their bun and hanging breasts. Sometimes, the sculptor has deliberately realized these characters, rather benevolent or severe.

Apart from these two types of characters, there is in Bayon, quite exceptionally, a single harpist and a singer accompanied by a harpist, corroborating the nature of string orchestras developed on wider bas-reliefs at the Bayon and Banteay Chhmar in other contexts (court music and festivities).

We have just mentioned the existence of scenes representing dancers (or novices) paying tribute or listening to a female dance master. The training of the dancers and the rehearsals were to be an important part of the ballet corps’ schedule. Today, it takes about ten years to teach an accomplished dancer in the royal ballet of Cambodia.
During the long Brahmanic period that preceded the reign of the Royal Triad, dance was an offering to the Hindou deities as well as material offerings. But who were these dancers addressing in the days of the Royal Triad? The answer may be contained in the iconography of the pillars in Bayon and Banteay Kdei. In these two temples, a Buddha was systematically carved above each dancer. But almost all are gone. Indeed, after the death of King Jayavarman VII, ensued an iconoclastic period with the return of Shaivite Brahmanism. All iconographic references to the historical Buddha and Buddhist triad were systematically erased. Concerning the Buddhas represented above the dancers on the pillars, this effacement took three forms:

1. The Buddhas have been totally erased until they no longer see any outline
2. Buddhas have been erased but the form is generally visible
3. Buddhas have been transformed into floral decorations.

Some of them, however, have been forgotten in the destructive madness and have survived intact. They are usually located in less visible or less well-lit areas. They would have escaped the vigilance of the foremen responsible for the verification of the work of borage. Unless workers who disagree with the Brahman hierarchy have disobeyed by failing to burn them. One could also think that when the general form remains visible, the destroyer had the same intellectual step. But this remains an enigma.

The Hindu temple is built in the image of a perfectly ordered universe. When the devotee enters it, he actually travels an initiatory path within his own body, while symbolically traveling through the solar system. In the temple, the planets of our solar system, of which there were nine at that time, are assigned a function of the highest order:

Sun: Preah Sûrya ព្រះសុរិយា or Preah Atit ព្រះអាទិត្យ (is always on the far left in the alignment)

Moon: Preah Chan ព្រះច័ន្ទ (is always in second position from the left)

March: Preah Angkear ព្រះអង្គារ

Mercury: Preah Puth ព្រះព

Jupiter: Preah Prasat ព្រះប្រហស្សត៍

Venus: Preah Sok ព្រះសុក្រ

Saturn: Preah Saw ព្រះសៅរ

Rahu, the ascending node of the moon, or the eclipse (head of the dragon): រហូ (is always in second position from the right)

Ketu, the knot coming down from the moon, or the comet (tail of the dragon): កេតុ (always on the far right)

In the Khmer temple, the planets are represented by nine deities, Navagraha, called in Khmer នពគ្រោះ (នព is the number "nine" in Pali and Sanskrit as written in Khmer, គ្រោះ designates the celestial bodies) or ផ្កាយនពគ្រ (ផ្កាយ designates generically the celestial bodies).

Those of the Bayon remain in situ in the heaps of cut stones in the western courtyard near the entrance.

What was the nature of ritual dances in the temples? Katia Légeret, researcher specialized in classical dances of India, enlighten us as to the vocation of the dancers of ancient India: "For millennia, the myth of the Creation was transmitted orally in the form of a symbolic gesture which combines dance, music and poetry, in other words a "total theater". The temple dancers regularly performed the ritual of the nine planets. The Nâtya-Shâstra, the oldest treatise devoted to dramatic art, does not envisage the construction of a scene or a public performance without a prior invocation of the planets. Even today, the dancers of Bharata-Nātyam for example, at the beginning of each show, at the time of the offering of flowers (pushpanjali), invoke the planets and divinities of the cardinal points, soliciting their benevolence."
This ceremony is reminiscent of ceremonies for ancestors and masters celebrated before any "artistic" performance of a ritual or performative nature.

Let us now return to images other than those of practicing dancers, carved on the pillars of the dancers' halls and the Bayon's axial pavilions. Let's take a look at some of them. Several images show us dancers looking at each other in a mirror.

In all four great temples of the Bayon era (Preah Khan of Angkor, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei and Banteay Chmar) the dancers' halls are located upstream of the central sanctuary, entering from the East. They could certainly be bypassed. In Angkor Wat, the Dancers' Gallery is the first space to cross from the West (this temple is normally oriented as well). In any case, the location of the dancers' halls seems to tell us that there were rituals of offerings in which dance had a preponderant place. This might indicate that ordinary people didn’t have access to the rest of the temple and had to make offerings in or near these places. The presence of the great Vishnu of Angkor Wat could be a presumption of proof.

The qualitative diversity of the dance masters' sculptures raises questions both in Bayon and in Banteay Kdei. The sensation that emerges is that of a sculpture laboratory where novice sculptors would have been trained. On the other hand, in  Angkor Wat, the sculpture is very neat, like that of the dancers.

On the walls and pillars of the main Angkorian temples lie hundreds of dancers represented in positions quite different from those of the Apsaras proper. The largest number of performances is located into the dancers’ halls and, in Bayon and Angkor Vat, in the external galleries.

The position of the dancers corresponds to a constant canon in the 12^th and 13^th century. One foot is placed on the ground, another raised, legs bent, two arms up or an arm up and one down. This is not only a canon of representation, but a basic position of religious narrative dances. By ‘narrative dance’ we mean a choreographic corpus that can replace the words and syntax of a text to describe a situation or tell a story. Religious dance is, like the verb, a tool of communication with the deities. Words replace gestures of hands (mudras / seal) and a set of bodily positions. In the South Indian tradition, the mudras reinforce the sacred word (mantra) or mental intention (bhavana) when it exists.

One can be surprised by the longevity of the dancers’ existence in Hindu temples. What were the motivations of such a craze? If dancing was offered as entertainment for the gods, what was the benefit to the devotees? If the argument of the religious approach is insufficient, then the answer is plural.
It exists a universal component of humanity that is beauty. It attracts and unites humanity. Art exists in all latitudes. Its first tangible traces date back to the Upper Paleolithic with rock paintings. At that time, music and dance were already existing concepts. Although dance is offered to divinities, the plastic of moving bodies and adornments have always been a source of wonder for ‘spectators’ and a social performance (sometimes competitive) for performers. It was, and still is, an entertainment of choice. In temples, for men (and to a lesser extent for women, depending on sexual orientation), the body of the dancers was a source of fantasy and desire. A fantasy and a desire that inevitably led to the overtaking of the white line and the prohibition of devadasi in Hindu temples by the prudish English settlers in the middle of the 19^th century. The best proof of the relevance of the argument is that following the prohibition of dance in Hindu temples, some of these dancers have converted and put their art on the stage: the Indian classical dances are  today internationally recognized. These dances bear various names according to the regions of India: Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Kathakali, Sattriya, Manipuri, Mohiniyattam, Chhau, Yakshagana and Bhagavata Mela.
Another reason for temples to keep dancers comes from the first one. A competition with the beauty center and aim to attract the devotees and their donations. This argument remains alive in the 21st century regardless of religion. Even if the religious centers (churches, mosques, temples, pagodas, synagogues) have for primary vocation to serve the interests of the population of a nearby geographical area, a competition between the neighboring religious centers, even distant ones, does exist. In the Angkorian era, competitiveness among temples was probably less crucial because no transportation and therefore walking distances required additional physical effort to go further.

For a long time, we have wondered about the place occupied by the musicians and singers in charge of the animation of the sacred dances. The south-east dance hall of the Bayon seems to offer us the best answer. We said earlier that the door to the vestibule adjacent to the north side of the south-east dance hall had been closed (which is also the case for the doors of the seven other dance halls). According to Olivier Cunin, this is a construction technique and this false door would have been naturally obstructed from the beginning. The study of this bas-relief, in relation to the architecture of the south-east dance hall and its adjacent vestibules, shows that the sculptor represented the place by unfolding it and arranging the perspective. Musicians, dancers and guests are shown sometimes in front and sometimes behind the pillars. Seen from the outside, there are seven bays but here, for reasons of space, only five. The central bay is the dance hall. From the outside, the roof and its decoration have disappeared, but the capitals on the interior pillars match perfectly those of the dance hall and adjacent vestibules. We believe that the musicians and singers were seated in the north vestibule, where this bas-relief is located.

At the time of the Bayon, all the halls were covered and the proximity of the orchestra to the dancers is perfectly consistent. We know that the string instruments, the one-stringed zither and the harp, are not very powerful, but the singing and the percussion are enough to guide the dancers. We also mentioned that the string orchestras of the ancient Khmer never show the drums. However, we believe that drums were part of all string orchestras, whether religious or palatine. This assertion, certainly peremptory, is attested by the fact that all the string orchestras of India at the time of Gupta (5^th c.), Borobudur, Java (9^th c.), Roluos (9^th c. epigraphy), Cham, Vietnam (8^th-10^th c.), Ayutthaya, Siam (18^th c.) ... had drums. Indeed, there is always a drum conductor who is the link between the dancers and the orchestra, a conductor in a way. Even if the string musicians did not see the dancers, they simply followed the drummer's directions and the drummer followed the dancers. Today the samphor drummer is the conductor of the pin peat orchestra. In the mobile pin peat of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, mounted on wheels, the samphor is in front and the skor thom just behind.

The iconographic elements of the decoration of the pillars and the pedestals of the dance halls show that :

• The dancing characters are indeed representations of dancers and not of apsaras.
• Dances were performed in the said "dance halls".
• There was verbal communication between the dance masters and the sacred dancers.
• String orchestras and singers animated the dance.
• The Queen Jayarājadevī gave a performance of Jātaka. The images of the Buddha on the pillars above the dancers confirm the direct relationship between the dancers and the Enlightened One.
• The dance halls were thus most certainly places where devotees came to pray, make offerings and receive a "religious education" at the instigation of Queen Jayarājadevī through Jātaka, in the light of stanza LXXIII of the great stele of Phimeanakas (K.485). The dance is an offering made to the deities, in the same way as food, perfumes, light or flowers.

If we are in a Buddhist setting, we must not forget that the Preah Khan of Angkor and Ta Prohm were temples dedicated respectively to the father and mother of King Jayavarman VII and to some illustrious figures. Worship was thus given to both the Buddhist triad and the deceased.