Walailak Offers Free Online Nora Courses: ‘Nora,’ the Humanity’s Intangible Cultural Heritage
In 2022, Walailak University promoted the learning of Menora Dance or Nora Dance by offering free online Nora courses. Nora is a traditional performing art specific to the Southern region of Thailand and has recently been registered as an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO. The training courses were available through the website https://acc.wu.ac.th and included four main courses: Nora Dance Course, Nora Music Course, Nora Vocal Performance Course, and Pran Nora (hunter figure in Nora.) These courses allowed the general public to learn about and engage in the unique cultural heritage of Southern Thailand, preserving and passing on the traditional art of Nora to a wider audience.
In collaboration with the Department of Cultural Promotion, the Ministry of Culture, Walailak University developed online Nora courses. These courses align with UNESCO’s strategies to raise awareness and perception about Nora, a cultural heritage of humanity. The main objectives of these online Nora courses were:
- Raising Awareness (Key Strategy 2 – Raising awareness):The courses aimed to create knowledge and awareness about Nora through online learning. By offering these courses, people in society could become more familiar with and appreciative of this art form.
- Preservation (Key Strategy 3 – Preservation):The courses aimed to conserve and promote Nora, inspiring pride in the cultural heritage of the nation and the region for future generations. By making it accessible through online courses, the art form could be preserved and shared more widely.
- Access (Key Strategy 4 – Access):The courses focused on providing broader access to the basic Nora performing arts courses for youth. By offering these courses online, they became accessible to a wider audience, especially young learners, ensuring that Nora could be passed down to future generations.
Additionally, the courses aligned with UNESCO’s “General Guidelines to Safeguard Documentary Heritage,” emphasizing the importance of preserving intangible cultural heritage. These online Nora courses aimed to enhance the knowledge, appreciation, and access to this unique cultural tradition, even during the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing to the safeguarding and promotion of Nora as a representative of intangible cultural heritage.
The Nora Performing Arts Course Online
- Nora Dance Course: The Nora Dance Course has innovatively incorporated multimedia technologies, encompassing visuals, audio, and graphics, to elaborate on the course content, making it more contemporary. In addition to theoretical knowledge, participants in the Nora Dance course will also benefit from practical experience, focusing on body coordination for dances like Ram Ta Kru, Ram Prasom Ta, and Ram Ta Ko through live demonstrations. Subsequently, learners will have the opportunity to practice these moves and have their performance assessed through video submissions to the course coordinator. This feedback loop is designed to enhance participants’ Nora dance skills, allowing them to perform with greater precision and aesthetics. In conclusion, despite being delivered online, the course maintains a high standard of quality comparable to in-person instruction. Also, this course can generate the number of new Menora dancers to preserve the traditional dance for future generations.
2.Nora Music Course: The Nora Music Course integrates various elements, including multimedia, visuals, audio, and graphics within its lessons. Initially, the course emphasizes demonstrations, providing learners with a thorough understanding of how to play each of the Nora musical instruments and the corresponding melodies. This approach helps participants develop the ability to distinguish the unique sounds produced by each instrument. Furthermore, the course covers an exploration of the Prasom-Wong, a specific type of Nora musical ensemble. In this segment, learners gain insights into tempo and melody intricacies. Notably, the Nora Music Course serves as a foundational component for the Nora Dance Course, Nora Vocal Performance Course, and Pran Nora Course. Walailak University provides educational opportunities for those interested in building traditional music instrument in Nora dance per on campus. The process of building the instrument will be instructed through local wisdom of southern people of Thailand.
3.Nora Vocal Performance Course: The Nora Vocal Performance Course offers an immersive learning experience for participants, guiding them through the intricacies of Nora vocal training using various educational resources. Each lesson provides comprehensive training instructions, melodies, and vocal practice with a choir. The course encompasses sessions that combine vocalization with melodies, along with dedicated segments where learners explore choir dynamics and techniques for mastering four-word verse vocals. All learners can learn the folklore through the lyrics of the songs sung in the Nora dance. Most of the folklore written in the lyrics are the ancient life of people in the Srivijaya Empire. In addition, learners can learn the local language in Nora dance which is the Thai Southern language.
4. Pran Nora (Hunter Figure in Nora) Course: The Pran Nora Course offers a balanced blend of theory and practical training. In the theoretical segment, a combination of images, sounds, and illustrative graphics was employed to enhance each learner’s comprehension of Pran Nora. As for the practical sessions, demonstrations of Pran Nora dance poses are provided, focusing on the foundational postures that depict the characteristics of a hunter. Visual aids, such as images, are utilized to facilitate a better understanding. Learners can practice while watching instructional videos. In case of any confusion regarding specific Pran Nora poses, they can refer to the videos to self-assess and identify areas for improvement. Alongside multiple-choice assessments, this course also requires learners to record their performances of Ram Pran Nora (Pran Nora dance) for submission and evaluation. Upon this assessment, participants will receive results and feedback for further enhancement.
The university aims to promote the conservation of local and national artistic and cultural heritage under the vision of being an ethical and learned institution, a cornerstone in the community, and excellent on the global stage. The core idea is to conserve and promote the heritage of art and culture amidst societal changes continuously and sustainably. This involves the creation of Nora groups that lead to the process of perpetuating and preserving art and culture enduringly.
Related links of evidence:
https://acc.wu.ac.th/?page_id=1132
https://so06.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/asi/article/view/247678
https://so05.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/parichartjournal/article/view/259317
