Ma Htwe Lay
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Ma Htwe Lay ( my, မထွေးလေး; ; born Khin Htwe, 1867 – 1927) was a Burmese dancer in the tradition of
Sin Kho Ma Lay Sin Kho Ma Lay ( my, ဆင်ခိုးမလေး; ; ; born Ma Hmyin; 1852 – 1930) was a Burmese court dancer, best known during the late Konbaung era. She was so favoured by the Chief Queen Supayalat that a royal verbal order came out in ...
and
Yindaw Ma Lay Yindaw Ma Lay ( my, ယင်းတော်မလေး; ; 1846 – 1916) was a Burmese royal court dancer, best known during the late Konbaung era. Yindaw Ma Lay is said to be one of the two mothers of the Mandalay's first dramatic arts era ...
. She is held up as an ideal in the modern Burmese anyeint industry, and is said to be the mother of Mandalay's second dramatic arts era.


Early life

Ma Htwe Lay was born in 1867 in the village of O-toke Kone, Kyaukse, to Min Thiha, the Prince of Khasi and a grandson of Bodawpaya, and his consort Ma Ma Gyi. Although her given name was Khin Htwe, she was called Htwe Lay by Hsinbyumashin,
Supayagyi , image=Queen Supayagyi.jpg , caption= , succession= Chief queen consort of Burma , reign=30 October 1878 – 12 April 1879 , predecessor= Thiri Pawara Maha Yazeinda Yadana Dewi , successor=Supayalat , succession1 = Princess of Mong Nawng , reig ...
and
Supayalat , image = Queen Supayalat of Burma.jpg , image_size = , caption = , succession = Chief queen consort of Burma , reign = 12 April 1879 – 29 November 1885 , predecessor ...
, and that was the name she became generally known by.


Career

She developed an interest in performing and began to learn traditional dancing at the age of 12, with her father's permission. She married Maung Maung Toke, the Prince of Yanaung, when she was 14 years old, and became a pupil of
Sin Kho Ma Lay Sin Kho Ma Lay ( my, ဆင်ခိုးမလေး; ; ; born Ma Hmyin; 1852 – 1930) was a Burmese court dancer, best known during the late Konbaung era. She was so favoured by the Chief Queen Supayalat that a royal verbal order came out in ...
. She also studied both dancing and singing under
Yindaw Ma Lay Yindaw Ma Lay ( my, ယင်းတော်မလေး; ; 1846 – 1916) was a Burmese royal court dancer, best known during the late Konbaung era. Yindaw Ma Lay is said to be one of the two mothers of the Mandalay's first dramatic arts era ...
. As she was not able to read or write, she was instructed in dictation by her mentors. She specialized in Kinnari and marionette-style dancing, and her Burmese anyeint singing was known for its tremulous musical flourishes (). In 1886, Ma Htwe Lay married performer Phoe Kun. Her husband introduced her to Manusadda Shwedaung Saya Pu, from whom she learned more traditional dance techniques. Widowed once again a few years later, she married Eikin Mg Gyi and danced with him throughout Burma. When he died after fifteen years of marriage, she married U Kyar Nyo, who was chief of the village of Zeegan Taungbyone, Inwa. Ma Htwe Lay's most famous role was as Pațācārī in the opera ''Ma Pațā and Mg Dāsa''. Her performance of Patācārī descending into madness after the death of her parents, brother, husband, and children was very well known. Another popular performance was in ''Sudhanu Manoharī'', particularly the scene of Manoharī Kinnari's return to Ngwedaung. The transition from ground to stage performances was initiated by Ma Htwe Lay and her husband Phoe Kun. Most newcomers to anyeint in the British colonial era were her pupils, including
Awba Thaung Oba Thaung (), born Thaung Tin ( , 11 April 1898 – 13 January 1971) was an eminent Burmese anyeint dancer and singer, who is credited for codifying the previously undocumented Burmese dance repertory. She started her dancing career since sh ...
and
Aung Bala Aung Bala ( my, အောင်ဗလ, ; 1883 – 1913) was an influential Burmese dancer during the early British colonial era of Burma. He was especially famous for playing female lead roles. He is said to have been the only male artist in the ...
. She died in 1927.


Donations

As meritorious deeds for her husband Eikin Mg Gyi, Ma Htwe Lay donated a building to Thitseint Sayadaw and funded the construction of a pagoda in the compound of Mahākhemikārāma Thitseint monastery, at the foot of Mandalay hill.


See also

* Burmese dance * Anyeint *
Liberty Ma Mya Yin Liberty Mya Yin ( my, လေဘာတီမြရင်; 21 April 1904 – 29 April 1945) was a Burmese anyeint dancer and singer, best known during the pre- World War II period. She gained the moniker "Liberty" from college fans who advocated ...
*
Mya Chay Gyin Ma Ngwe Myaing "Mya Chay-Gyin" Ma Ngwe Myaing ( my, မြခြေချင်း မငွေမြိုင်, ; born Ngwe Hlaing; 21 November 1894 – 20 September 1959) was a Burmese dance performer of the twentieth century, in the tradition of Ma H ...


References

{{reflist Burmese dancers 1867 births 1927 deaths People from Mandalay Region People from British Burma