Lao Saturday School New Year Presentation, 2004
SubjectPortrait of
Manola Sidara
(Laotian)
SubjectPortrait of
Dr. Thongvanh Norinth
(Laotian)
Date2004 April
Mediumphotographic prints
ClassificationsGraphics
Credit LineConnecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program collections
CopyrightIn Copyright
Object number2015.196.405.1-.7
DescriptionPhotographs from the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration at the Jefferson School in New Britain in April 2004.
2015.196.405.1: Image of Manola Sidara in traditional folk clothing holding flowers, preparing for the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration.
2015.196.405.2: Image of Dr. Thongvanh Norinth of the Lao Association of Connecticut, holding a pah khuane decoration used in the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration at Jefferson School.
2015.196.405.3-.4: Images of apprentices from Killingly, the boys learned khene playing from a skilled teacher, and the young girl learned dance from Manola Sidara. They performed at the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration at Jefferson School.
2015.196.405.5-.7: Images of children standing on the stage to perform at the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration at Jefferson School.
NotesSubject Note: Lao New Year is celebrated in Connecticut by members of the Lao community each April. Known as the Boon Pee Mai or the festival of the fifth month, this is a time of special meals and ceremonies lasting for several days. Traditionally, on the last day of the old year houses are cleaned and put in order as a symbolic activity intended to expel any bad spirits that may be hiding in the home. On the first day of the new year, people go to the temple where they wash the statues of the Buddha with perfumed holy water. The ceremonies ensure good health and prosperity in the new year. In Connecticut, Lao gather at temples for religious ceremonies, and hold special banquets that feature music and dance by local dance groups such as Lao Narthasin led by dance educator and chef Manola Sidara. Other events have included an annual presentation by the students of Lao Saturday School which ran for many years at Jefferson School in New Britain organized by Manola Sidara and Howard and Sue Phengsomphone. Many of these events are organized by the Lao Association of Connecticut. Many Lao New Year celebrations in Connecticut have involved guest artists from other cultural backgrounds and traditions. In 2008 and 2009, CHAP collaborated with WNPR’s acclaimed radio discussion show Where We Live to document several ethnic festivals across the state. Words and sound were woven together to create podcasts and audio slide shows that take viewers and listeners right to the festivals. This project visited and documented a festival at the Lao Temple in Morris.2015.196.405.1: Image of Manola Sidara in traditional folk clothing holding flowers, preparing for the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration.
2015.196.405.2: Image of Dr. Thongvanh Norinth of the Lao Association of Connecticut, holding a pah khuane decoration used in the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration at Jefferson School.
2015.196.405.3-.4: Images of apprentices from Killingly, the boys learned khene playing from a skilled teacher, and the young girl learned dance from Manola Sidara. They performed at the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration at Jefferson School.
2015.196.405.5-.7: Images of children standing on the stage to perform at the Lao Saturday School New Year celebration at Jefferson School.
Subject Note: Lao Saturday School began operation in 1994, inspired by the community’s concern about its children forgetting or ignoring their parents’ culture. The Lao Association of Connecticut developed and managed the program. Because so many of its students were Lao, Jefferson Elementary School in New Britain opened its doors on Saturday mornings for classes in Lao language, history, and arts. At first serving only K -12 children, the School also offered classes in ESL and citizenship to adults who could attend with their children and grand-children. Teachers, who were professional educators and community leaders, divided the classes into age groups and subjects. For several years from January through May the school served about 65 children and a dozen adults from many of the Lao communities in central Connecticut. The School sponsored traditional festivals such as New Year each April, when the students performed the Lao dances, songs, and poems they learned.
Subject Note/ The Lao national instrument, khene, is a tall mouth organ made from multiple reed pipes bound together and held upright when played. Khene playing features centrally in traditional festivities and ceremonies in Laos, and at Lao New Year celebrations and family gatherings in New England. Because it can be difficult to learn the breath control, fingerings, melodies, and drones important to khene playing, few students have taken this on in the U.S.
Biographical Note: Based in Dudley MA after immigrating to the US, khene player Bounleuane Ketnavong learned to play from his father, and passed on his skills to members of the Lao community in northeastern Connecticut during Years 5 and 6 (2002-2004) of CCHAP’s Southern New England Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program. Khamphone Phonekeo served as Community Outreach Coordinator in the successful Lao Cultural Program at Killingly Central Schools. Students there participated in activities such as a traditional dance group and New Year Festival. Two of the boys from the group - Sulisay Phonekeo, Khone Thoummany - as well as Khamphone learned khene playing under this apprenticeship. The group presented their learning in a concert at the 2003 Dayville CT Goodyear School multicultural event showcasing the apprenticeship between teaching artist Bounleaune Ketnavong and Khamphone Phonekeo in Lao khene playing, along with other Lao students at the school. A young dancer, Tamala Phongsavad, learned Laotian dance with Manola Sidara and she performed at this event. The apprentices also performed in the Lao New Year Celebration at Jefferson School in New Britain in 2004. Dayville and Killingly in eastern Connecticut had a sizeable Lao population in the 1990s and early 2000s, many were working at the Franklin mushroom farm. After the farm closed, many moved elsewhere in Connecticut and other states.
Subject Note: The Lao Association of Connecticut (LAC) is a community-based non-profit formed in 1980 to provide assistance to Lao-Americans in areas of need such as cultural preservation, education, advocacy, translation, and access to services. Its Board of Directors is comprised of senior members of the Lao community, including educators and artists. LAC was instrumental in developing Lao Saturday School in collaboration with Jefferson School in New Britain, starting in 1994 and running for several years, offering classes in Lao language, history, and arts as well as ESOL and citizenship to adults. LAC sponsors an annual New Year Celebration in April that brings Lao together from all over Connecticut, held for many years in New Britain and elsewhere in temples around Connecticut. LAC has also organized events and projects that serve the community; the group collaborated on the Southeast Asian Problem Gambling Project run by the Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, as well as other health initiatives. LAC also worked with CCHAP and other Southeast Asian communities to recruit students and parent volunteers for after-school classes, involve students and teachers in community activities; and introduce artists from the other communities to each other.
Biographical Note: Manola Sidara is a Lao dance educator and community activist whose life has been devoted to serving her community. Born in 1969 in Vientiane, Laos, Manola joined the National Dance School at the age of five, along with her sister. After her family fled Laos, she continued learning traditional dance with master dancer Sone Norasing in Colorado until moving to Connecticut in 1989. From her grandmother and aunts Manola learned to make pah khuane, the ornaments of bamboo leaves and flowers which are part of every Lao ceremony and celebration in both temple and home. She worked as a wedding consultant, organizing all the arrangements for traditional Lao weddings, and became known as a brilliant cake decorator. Manola helped to produce the exhibit The Ties That Bind: Southeast Asian Wedding Traditions at the Institute for Community Research (ICR) in 1995. In 1999-2000 she served as the Bilingual Program Assistant at Garfield School in Bridgeport, teaching ESOL, computers, and cultural awareness to elementary school children both Lao and Latino. Manola taught traditional dance at the Lao Saturday School in New Britain from its inception. With her high-school age students from the school, Manola formed the Lao Narthasin Dance Troupe, instructing the members in classical Laotian dance, folk dances of different ethnic groups in Laos, and traditional values and manners such as respectful behavior, honoring elders, and service to the family and community. The dance group, which has performed throughout Connecticut and Rhode Island at cultural centers and Lao temples, now includes a third generation of dancers. From 1998 to 2001 Manola was the New Britain Coordinator for the Urban Artists Initiative, a statewide training program run by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts and the Institute for Community Research. In 2001 Manola received an award from the Lao Association of CT at New Year for her work with the Lao Narthasin dancers and was selected as a CT Commission on the Arts Master Teaching Artist. In 2011 Manola coordinated the community oral history project After the Trauma: Holocaust Survivors and Laotian Refugees Confront the Past, displayed at the University of Hartford. Manola is also known as a master chef at East West Grille, her award-winning and beloved Lao-Thai restaurant on New Park Avenue in Hartford from 2000-2019, and the East-West Grille Food Truck. Manola is very active in assisting the Lao Temple in Morris, CT, with cultural programming, social service, and providing food for the monks and their ceremonies. For Manola, her tireless activities in dance, education, ceremonial decorations, and cooking all promote wellness, spirituality, bonding, and healing.
2015.196.403/ Subject Note: Pah Khuane - Originally made from banana leaves, these ornamental sculptures are used in Lao ceremonies and celebrations as a focal point for gathering people together and encouraging health and healing. They can also be an altar piece for a wedding ceremony, or given to people coming out of hospital to replenish their spirit. Khuan means spirit, and the decorations carry strings which are symbols of bonding and holding of the spirit, as also seen in Lao Buddhist ceremonies when the monk will tie a string around someone’s wrist as a sign of spiritual connection and well-being.
Additional audio, video, and photographic materials exist in the archive relating to this community and its artists.
Cataloging Note: This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-245929-OMS-20.
Status
Not on view
