# Conversation with Somapa Thai Dance Company

Douglas Peach sits down with Suteera Nagavajara, Vorayot Suksaichon and Anant Narkkong to discuss Somapa Thai Dance Company’s musical origins. The group is a distinguished Thai dance and music company based in the Washington DC area, featuring an accomplished Thai orchestra. Many of its artists have been trained with highly recognized dance and music masters, including National Artists and others from Chulalongkorn University and the prestigious department of fine arts in Bangkok, Thailand. The orchestra is led by the widely recognized Thai music master Vorayot Suksaichon. The group has performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art, the Walters Art Museum, the Maryland Folk Festival and the Royal Thai Embassy in Washington DC. The group’s mission is to preserve and promote Thai culture and arts in the Americas. Through performances and workshops, the Company hopes that music and dance will bring peace and diversity to society through increased understanding of people’s different cultures and backgrounds. The American Folklife Center is hosting the group in celebration of the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Master Vorayot Suksaichon hails from successive generations of Thai classical musicians. He grew up amidst a Piphat (percussion-based orchestra) family in Thonburi District on the west bank of the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok. Trained in percussion-based instruments such as…

- Kind: Talk
- Year: 2024
- Runtime: 37 min
- By: Narkkong, Anant
- Archive: [Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/item/video-10048/)
- Licence or status: Rights statement at the Library of Congress (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Library of Congress
- Who can watch: Tweens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/loc/video-10048?play=1)