Let's get this city dancing

Published on August 23, 2007

Live Arts Bangkok, an inaugural three-evening performance festival organised by Seameo-Spafa at two historic venues, MR Kukrit Pramoj House and Siam Society, showcased the current state of Southeast Asian dance and theatre.

The opening night on Thursday was attended by an invited audience, more than half of whom were foreign.

It started with a delightfully traditional Burmese string puppet demonstration by Spafa senior researcher Dr Tin Maung Kyi then segued into the playful "A Monkey's Mask", held outdoors by Cambodian classical mask dancer Phon Sopheap. The al fresco venue lent a magical air to the point that, with or without a mask, man and monkey became indistinguishable.

The audience then moved to the Thai-style pavilion, where chairs were placed around the thrust-style stage. In another solo, "Pichet's Code", internationally acclaimed Thai dancer and choreographer Pichet Klunchun showed how classical Thai dance movements can be traced back to nature and that there is more science behind the art than we might think. It wasn't long before his movements became a bridge joining Thai and western dance disciplines. Not surprisingly, he received the loudest applause from the audience.

Artistic creations were again linked to daily life when Papua-born dancer and choreographer Jecko Siompo partnered with Siti Ajeng Anggrek Fatimah for "Tikus Tikus", an up-beat duet blending Papua folk with tribal dance and everyday gesture.

Lastly, Wannasak "Kuck" Sirilar worked with Hong Kong's Dick Wong in "Encounter #1". This improvisational act was a funny satire on intercultural collaborations of artists from different backgrounds, on how - given a limited amount of time and budget - they could turn into a waste of both the artists' and the audience's time and money.

These performers successfully proved that in Southeast Asian dance and theatre, the various forms of "the traditional" and "the modern" can coexist and morph into the "contemporary".

Meanwhile, at Patravadi Theatre's Main Stage last Friday, the Japan Foundation brought four young, innovative and eclectic dance troupes from the Land of the Rising Sun - representatives of the Japan Contemporary Dance Network (JCDN) - for a feast of contemporary dance aptly titled "We're Gonna Go Dancing".

The evening started at a simmering pace with "How to Move Forward to the North-Northeast" in which dance duo Ho Ho-Do used a huge running fan as a main prop and major motif, linking various dance-like moments.

In stark contrast was the performance of duo Shintai Hyogen Circle who slapped each other, painfully yet comically, in "To Norichan".

Vivid video images helped explain Masako Yasumoto's  solo "Nahanaha". Finally, the three dancers of Ko and Edge Company appeared painted head to toe in a metallic hue, and proceeded to challenge the definition of dance by starting their "Dead 1+" by standing on their heads for almost 10 minutes.

The audience's loudest cheer of the night went to Pichet Klunchun and his Life Work Company for their political satire "Kratai Kha Diao" ("The Rabbit Standing on One Leg"). As Pichet stepped onto the stage in a Manchester City kit hand in hand with a woman in an elegant dress and beautifully coifed hair, the audience twigged immediately who the targets of the piece were. They were joined by another woman in military uniform, a businessman and a female student holding a football.

By combining choreography inspired by the kid's play "Kratai Kha Diao", hundreds of table tennis balls to represent golf balls, the infamous book "Where Are You?" and scores of ensemble performers, Life Work Company proved that dance theatre could make a political statement - loud, clear and strong yet tasteful.

"We're Gonna Go Dancing" offered the audience plenty of exposure to contemporary dance - its variety of styles, techniques, messages and functions - and also showed that what a dancer wants to communicate is perhaps more significant than his/her technical prowess.

Though the Japanese dancers performed for one night only, over the weekend they also conducted three workshops for professional, amateur and young dancers and led an insightful discussion on the current state of dance in Japan and Thailand.

The writer can be contacted at Pawit.M@chula.ac.th.

Pawit Mahasarinand

The Nation