On any occasion, people in Myanmar enjoy watching a pwe(show), a religious festival or a wedding. Pwes range from slapstick to religious plays. They are performed on a portable stage and may last an entire night. The action is often accompanied by people playing drums, gongs and
cymbals. Zat pwe is a religious play, while anyei pwe is a comedy. Yein pwe involves singing and dancing. Yok thei pwe is a play with marionettes. Nat pwes pay homage to the members of the spirit world and are performed at nat festivals.

There are special dances at nat festivals, when the dancers invite the nats to possess their bodies. There are also more formal dances, often performed by women, that involve precise movements and stylized gestures. Some of these classical dances depict or take stories from the life of
the Buddha. Myanmar music uses many unique instruments, such as the saung kauk (a 13-stringed harp shaped like a boat), the hne (a wind instrument) and the kyay naung (a set of brass gongs). In the country, people sing folk songs to get fresh from the monotony of tasks such as pounding rice or weaving. *RV

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