Anyeint

Anyeint (Burmese: အငြိမ့်; MLCTS: a ngrim.; IPA: [ʔəɲḛiɴ]; Burmese: အငြိမ့်; also spelt a-nyeint) is a traditional Burmese entertainment form that combines dance with instrumental music, song, and comedy routines, in theatrical performances. It is a form of pwe, the Burmese word for traditional entertainment. While classical pwe can be quite formal and almost ritualistic, anyeint is considered light entertainment.

In recent years, popular anyeint troupes such as Thee Lay Thee & Say Yaung Zoun (သီးလေးသီးနှင့်ဆေးရောင်ဆုံ) and Htawara Hninzi (ထာရဝနှင်းဆီ) have performed overseas, including Thailand, Singapore and the United States, which have large Burmese immigrant populations.VCDs of popular troupes' performances are also widely distributed; politically insensitive ones, including Say Yaung Zoun (ဆေးရောင်ဆုံ), have been banned by Burmese authorities.

Characters

The lead singer and dancer in an anyeint performance is called the anyeint minthami (အငြိမ့်မင်းသမီး). Well-known film actresses and singers, including May Than Nu and Yadana Khin, are often featured as lead anyeint actresses. The anyeint minthami dances to instrumental music and singing either a cappella or to music are interspersed with comedic dialogue and slapstick performed by clowns. The result is a sequence of solo and group dances. The costumes of anyeint performers are identical to those worn by puppets in traditional marionette theater. Although lead actresses were once the main focus of performances, the focus has now shifted to the comedic skits performed.