Folk Arts - Hmong Dance: Traditions Continue through Hmong Youth

By Joan Rabinowitz

 

It's Friday evening in the rectory of Our Lady of Mount Virgin Church. Pang Xiong and See Yang, two Hmong girls in elaborate costumes, are rehearsing with their dance group. They practice every Friday and Saturday evening in preparation for their New Year's performance. As the music stops, the six girls begin laughing and talking, the ornaments on their dresses jingling as they move.

 

“The dance is about love,” Pang explains. See ads, “Let time stand still so that tonight we can be together forever.”

 

Pang Xiong and See Yang are both twenty-two. They learned to dance from their older sisters. “Usually the older teach the younger girls, then they get married, then the young girls take over,” See explains. See and Pang have been leading the group for eight years. They took over after their sisters got married. “I think we're the longest lasting dancers,” See continues. “Usually people dance for a couple years, or one year, and then they find somebody and they get married, because they're on-stage and everybody sees them, you know. So, they're pretty popular and they get married. But, I guess we're not popular or anything. It's been eight years, so they consider us very old and they don't watch us. But, we dance anyway. Because, we enjoy it. Twenty-two, that's over the hill. When you're sixteen, you're at your prime,” she laughs.

 

See Lee is fourteen. She is the youngest girl in the dance group. See Lee began dancing last year. Cha Lai is seventeen, and Chee, who has been dancing for four years, is twenty. They all learned to dance from See and Pang. According to Pang, the girls in her group are all related, in some fashion or other. “See Yang and myself, her mother and my mother are cousin sisters. And, they're both from Black and White Hmong. And, Cha Lai is also my mother's cousin sister. That's three of us are in the third generation. Their fathers are brothers. Chi is my sister-in-law, who is Bi Song's wife. And, on is See Lee and her mom is also my cousin sister. And, one is Ia Chaa, who is my sister-in-law's cousin sister. So, we're very, sort of, related. We get along pretty well. Except, sometimes See and I, we sort of disagree,” Pang laughs.

 

The girls wear very elaborate costumes. Their skirts come from Thailand or California, where there are large Hmong populations. “The skirts are harder to make, so usually we buy the skirts. It's too time consuming. We don't have the materials to make them.” See explains. “Usually, the shirts and aprons, our mothers make them for us. We're supposed to do it ourselves, but we're in school all the time.”

 

It is inevitable that the demands of living in the United States will conflict with traditional Hmong customs. But, the girls value their traditions, and want them to continue. “Because I teach dances and also do other things at New Year, sometimes I get really tired of it,” Pang explains. “I just want, ‘Oh I wish New Year's were over, because I'm so tired. I have this and that to do. Homework and all these things, personal.’ But, I think, New Year is one of the traditional celebrations that our ancestors do every year. And, See and I try to keep that alive in our young adults, young teenagers. So, when we get old and married, they will still continue. And, if I am fifty years old, and I will see younger kids perform which is passed on from my group, I will be very happy.”

 

They all learned to dance from See and Pang. According to Pang, the girls in her group are all related, in some fashion or other. “See Yang and myself, her mother and my mother are cousin sisters. And, they're both from Black and White Hmong. And, Cha Lai is also my mother's cousin sister. That's three of us are in the third generation. Their fathers are brothers. Chi is my sister-in-law, who is Bi Song's wife. And, on is See Lee and her mom is also my cousin sister. And, one is Ia Chaa, who is my sister-in-law's cousin sister. So, we're very, sort of, related. We get along pretty well. Except, sometimes See and I, we sort of disagree,” Pang laughs.

 

The girls wear very elaborate costumes. Their skirts come from Thailand or California, where there are large Hmong populations. “The skirts are harder to make, so usually we buy the skirts. It's too time consuming. We don't have the materials to make them.” See explains. “Usually, the shirts and aprons, our mothers make them for us. We're supposed to do it ourselves, but we're in school all the time.”

 

^ - next article: The Muscians of New Year: The Qeej Players and a Contemporary Sound Compiled by Joan Rabinowitz