Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [43]
In Thimphu, the Royal Academy for the Performing Arts (RAPA) trains young Bhutanese dancers and musicians in religious and folk dances. The quality of the dancing is exceptional and the program they offer is breathtaking in its colour and vitality.
Until recently there has been no tradition of acting beyond the masked dances and comic skits performed at the festivals, but with the development of modern education, school performances include Shakespeare or locally written plays. These are aired regularly on BBS. Although there was no tradition of writing plays in Bhutan, recently there have been moves to produce plays in Dzongkha. One young playwright, Sonam Kinga, has written several award-winning plays in Dzongkha, loosely based on classical Greek works.
Finally, wherever there is dancing you should be willing to take part. Traditionally, everybody, including visitors, enthusiastically takes part in the final dance (Tashi Lebey), which concludes all festivities or dance performances. Don’t feel shy, just follow the person in front of you and smile!
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SPORT
Traditional Games
Bhutan’s national sport is archery (datse). It is played wherever there is enough space and remains the favourite sport for all ages. There are archery tournaments held throughout the country. In the countryside you will see the traditional wooden bows, while in Thimphu modern imported bows are often now used.
Archery contests act as both an affirmation of Bhutanese cultural identity as well as popular entertainment. The tournaments begin with a short ceremony and breakfast. The targets are placed 140m apart. Players often stand close to the targets and call how good or bad the aim of their opponent is – if the contestant hits the target, his team mates will perform a slow dance and sing his praises, while he slips a coloured scarf into his belt. If he misses, the opposition mock his ability.
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Until the mid-twentieth century there were no large urban settlements in Bhutan. By 2005, the population of Thimphu was over 50,000.
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Women, usually wearing their finest clothes and jewellery, often stand to one side of the archery field and act as cheerleaders. They dance and sing during breaks from the shooting. Their songs and shouts can be quite ribald!
Monks are forbidden to participate in archery, so they often play a stone-throwing game called daygo. A round, flat stone rather like a discus is tossed at a target and the winner is the one that gets the closest.
The Bhutanese version of shot put is called pungdo, and is played with large heavy stones.
Khuru is a darts game played on a field about 20m long with small targets similar to those used by archers. The darts are usually homemade from a block of wood and a nail, with some chicken feathers for fins. If a chicken can’t be found, bits of plastic make a good substitute. Teams compete with a lot of shouting and arm waving, designed to put the thrower off his aim. The game is a favourite of monks and young boys; beware of dangerous flying objects if you are near a khuru target or archery field.
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The population growth rate has been reduced from 3.1% in 1994 to 1.3% now.
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Modern Sports
Bhutan first sent an archery team of three men and three women to participate in the 1984 Olympics. Since then Bhutan has participated in the Olympics and in a series of regional sporting competitions. It earned a gold medal for tae kwon do in the South Asia Federation games in 2004.
Modern sports, notably basketball, football, golf, tae kwon do, shooting and tennis, are rapidly growing in popularity. Basketball is a favourite, especially since the king used to play basketball in public on a regular basis. Football teams such as DrukStar in Thimphu have emerged in the main urban areas, and you may see matches taking place on the playing fields at Changlimithang. Bhutan came to the attention of filmmakers during the 2002 World Cup when they arranged for Bhutan to play against the football team of the small