Queen Prompts Thailand to Restrict ‘Coyote Ugly’ Dance TroupesBy THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 28, 2006BANGKOK, Thursday, Dec. 28 (AP) — Even in a country where scantily clad dancers are something of a national symbol, there is such a thing as crossing the line.
A comment by Thailand’s revered royal family has set off a campaign against one particular type of dancer, known here as Coyote Girls, after “Coyote Ugly,” a film made in 2000 about a group of women who dance seductively on a New York bar.
The movie inspired mainstream Bangkok nightclubs to feature their own brand of Coyote Girls. Soon they were dancing at auto shows. Shopping malls and businesses hired them to promote new products, and their sexy dancing became a regular feature of outdoor festivals. A troupe even entertained soldiers in their tanks in Bangkok on a September afternoon after the military staged a coup.
But Queen Sirikit intervened after a recent performance near a Buddhist temple on a Buddhist holy day, prompting a crackdown that has turned Coyote Girls into a subject of national debate and official disapproval.
“Coyote Girls have to be in the right place, like an animal has to be in the zoo,” said Ladda Thungsupachai, director of the Culture Watch Center, a division of the Culture Ministry, which wants to restrict the dancing to nightclubs and bars.
