Tibetan ensemble a colorful burst of energy

It’s hard to know which element of the Tibetan Song and Dance Ensemble might have the most staying power among theatergoers. It could be the multicolored costumes that blatantly blend stripes with patterns. Or the tinny sounds of decorative cymbals. Or the beating of drums, the chanting of monks, the magnificent nasally voices of women.

The only sure thing is that those who attended the ensemble’s performance last night at the Maine Center for the Arts in Orono have a whirl of exotic memories this morning.

Established in 1959 under the patronage of the Dalai Lama, the god-king who fled Tibet because of the controlling forces of the Communist Party in China, the Tibetan Song and Dance Ensemble demonstrates through song, dance, theater and smiles that its native culture is thriving and glorious in spite of colonial rule.

More than a dozen pieces were presented during the two-hour performance that celebrated Tibetan traditions. The ceremonial presentations were marked by ritualistic dancing with stomping feet and thumping drum accompaniment. Wind and string instruments, clanging bells, furry headdresses and slow dance steps recreated an old Tibet, while symbolic gestures and hand-held props reinforced mythological themes. All the while, the dancers moved like puppets dangled by some elegant and powerful deity.

In a masked spiritual dance, sorcerers wore predominantly gold, red and black costumes and carried sacred demon daggers to destroy the forces of evil. For “Ralpa,” a gypsy dance, the male dancers treated the audience to Cossack-style kicks and full-body turns. “Yaktse” was an amusing excerpt from a Tibetan opera about milking yaks, the main domestic animal in that area of Asia. The skit wasn’t the evening’s only example of the way slapstick humor and the antics of mischievous animals can rouse cross-cultural laughter.

The group hailed from India (its government-in-exile) and recently protested successfully when the Chinese government attempted to send its own party-line troupe on tour.

That victory for this distinctly non-Chinese group was represented in the talent and enthusiasm of its members. But it was most penetratingly felt during two chanting sessions by Gyutoe monks, whose voices came together in a holy sound that was both uniquely Tibetan and universally alluring.