When the mangoes ripen in the smiling sun

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

Wearing a white sinh dress.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

The deep forest valley will tap its toes.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

When the frangipanis create a rustling choir.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

And the moonshine sky a glass floor.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

With children’s bodies rolling waves.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

And elephant tusks of songs.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

Ghostly bamboo houses and whistling grass.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

Oh Laos, oh winds of sweet rice fields!

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

Oh dried tears and senseless fire!

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

Drops of sugar canes, empty hillside, gazing sunset!

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

I always said I’d dance my feet in Salavan!

Wearing a white sinh dress.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

Rice whiskey dripping from red painted mouth.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

When mama’s quivering lips sing mor lam.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

My rhythm swallowed in fainting moonlight.

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

Oh bouquet of tickling laughter!

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan.

Oh, Salavan!  Oh wispy earth and silent tongue!

I’ll dance my feet in Salavan. 

Kaysone Syonesa, is a Lao American theatre artist and playwright with a BA in Theatre Arts from the University of Minnesota. She has a theatre background as a performing artist/actor, director, set/costume designer and playwright. She has performed with various theatre companies in the Twin Cities with recent productions from Pangea World Theater, Teatro del Pueblo and Green T Productions. She has also directed and devised original theatre work called Sticky Rice Drama with artists and youth of color as a platform to uplift diverse and underrepresented voices in the Twin Cities. Kaysone has strengths in bringing communities together to create space and devise work to uncover and imaginatively tell stories that reflect the human experiences. In the past she was inspired to raise the artistic voices of women of color and created Moonlight Collective with three theatre artists who were Latina American and African American. Together they wrote, designed, directed and produced a play called Many Routes, about three different women’s stories integrating spoken word, dance and storytelling. She has also worked with and trained Laotian and Hmong youth to become theatre storytellers through playwriting and performance art.