Royal Ballet Theatre

who we are

The Royal Ballet Theatre is reviving traditional Lao dance and music with the help of old Master Artists. Our goal is to create a new generation of masters, while preserving our cultural heritage and passing on generations of artistic knowledge to Lao children.

what we do

For years, the Royal Ballet troupe performed Phra-Lak Phra-Lam, the Lao version of the sacred poem, the Ramayana, in the Royal Palace in Luang Prabang. Then in 1975, after 15 centuries of annual performances, the Theatre was banned and the master artists and teachers had to look for other work. In 1993, after an absence of more than 15 years, the Institution of Cultural Research and the Provincial Government Office in Luang Prabang established a committee to revive limited performances of Phra-Lak Phra-Lam for festivals. In 2002, the Theatre was re-established and has been performing at home and abroad since.

To re-establish the theatre, we gathered local youths and taught them dancing, traditional music and folksongs for six months. After three years our team of musicians and performers has grown from 38 to nearly 160.  Between November and March, we perform everyday except Sundays in our 480-seat theatre, and during October and April, four times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat). We also encourage young children to learn traditional music and dance. To share the history of the Ramayana, we perform in small village schools and donate traditional instruments so that they can help preserve traditional Lao culture. In our school for performers, 50 of our students have become professionals.