Mandukhai is the first independent professional folk art company in Mongolia. The group's name pays homage to Queen Mandukhai the Wise, a descendant of the Great Khan Chinggis of Unified Mongolia. In the 15th century, Queen Mandukhai fought alongside her soldiers for the reunification of the Mongolian states, making her one of the most important figures in the country's history. The stage decorations and costumes used by the Mongolian troupe are faithful to the style of the 15th century.
The members of the Mandukhai Company are all high-level performers, winners of the major Mongolian folk art festival competitions. The company includes various groups, with the main formation consisting of seventeen people. The troupe is renowned for the extraordinary flexibility of its dancers, and it is said that the Mandukhai performers have "boneless bodies."
In Mongolia, there are many variations of folk dance. Among the most important are the masked dance, tsam, the shaman dance, and dances accompanied by songs. Musical instruments are classified into orchestral, chamber, and solo instruments. Most have two or three strings and are suitable for playing folk, modern, and classical music pieces.
"Tsam" is a masked dance based on Buddhist mythology and enriched with local religious rituals and traditions. It came to Tibet from India more than a millennium ago and spread to Mongolia in the 16th century. The masks and costumes of the Mongolian tsam differ from those originally used in India. The colors used in Mongolia are red, black, yellow, and white. The masks are very large and expressive, designed to impress the viewer even from a distance.
In "tsam," there are several main characters: the Great Old Man, master of the land, mountains, forests, steppes, waters, and herds of animals; the Deer and the Ox, messengers of Erlik, the god of the underworld; the god Gonghor, the last of all the demons; the god Namsrai, deity of abundance; the red god Jamsran, protector of warriors; the goddess Lkhamo, protector of the living; the god Gombo or Makhgal, who defends people from misfortunes. But the true protagonist of "tsam" is Erlik, the god of the underworld. He wears rich clothes adorned with gold and silver and a terrifying mask. Erlik enters the scene to administer justice and judge everyone's good and bad deeds.
The "shaman dance" revives the tradition of Shamanism, an ancient religion practiced by the nomadic and hunter Mongolian populations of the third century BC. A common belief is that when the shaman falls into a trance, he contacts the spirit. It is through singing, dancing, and the rhythm of gongs and tambourines that the shaman can reach the trance state.
