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Published on September 1, 2007

Thirty years ago there were barely 100 serious ballet dancers in this country. Today, that number exceeds 2,000.

And, next month, quite a few will be performing at the Bangkok International Festival of Dance and Music.

Ballet Theatre Association founder and president Thanpuying Varaporn Pramoj Na Ayudhaya is excited. She's looking forward to watching her pupils perform at the Thailand Cultural Centre in the September 9 to October 11 celebration.

A festival committee member too, Varaporn explains this year's dance-and-music event is going to be "grander than ever" and will celebrate His Majesty the King's birthday in style.

Accomplished dancers from here and abroad will participate in a variety of musical styles and dances, including concert, opera, traditional and ballet.

Five ballet spectaculars are scheduled. They include "Upon Reaching the Sun", an excerpt from the 1834 play "Woyzeck" by George Buchner, being performed by Israel's Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company. This takes place on September 18.

On September 27, Compagnia Aterballetto of Italy stages William Shakespeare's immortal "Romeo and Juliet". The Portuguese National Ballet takes a classical detour with "Swan Lake" on September 29 and September 30 followed by the neo-classical "Pedro and Ines" on October 2.

Expect a different "Swan Lake", while "Pedro and Ines" guarantees an Iberian romantic tragedy.

Following this is a version of Shakespeare's romantic comedy "A Midsummer Night's Dream", performed by the Zurich Ballet on October 6 and 7. It's a major production, with four 12-metre containers required to transport the set to the Kingdom.

Varaporn is excited about the festival and what is on offer. Organisers have selected well-known performances and all are of international-standard quality.

It's difficult to see this kind of standard anywhere in the world, she says. "Abroad, you can queue for ages and still not get a ticket - which are very expensive, anyway."

Varaporn disagrees the dance festival is elitist and adds that tickets have been priced to allow anyone to experience world-class ballet. "Every cultural expression has a universal appeal and virtue," she explains.

Varaporn graduated from the Royal Ballet School in Britain. She has represented its Royal Academy of Dance here in Thailand since 1973 and organises examinations for students.

She opened the Varaporn Kanchana Ballet School five years later, and has witnessed ballet's growing popularity in her homeland ever since. "Thirty-four years ago there were about 100 students sitting ballet exams; now there are 2,000," she says.

"There aren't too many Thais who've gone on to become professional ballet dancers on the international scene, but one of my pupils will be dancing in 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. I'm very proud.

   "To get to an advanced level requires hard work and dedication. When girls reach university age they have to choose between an academic education or ballet.

 We have to applaud parents who support their children in the latter."

Thanks to her own parents' vision, Varaporn was one of the first Thai people to study ballet professionally.

Many of her friends became professional dancers after graduation, but she chose to teach.

Her family fell in love with ballet: her sister and both her daughters have followed in her footsteps. Now Varaporn's granddaughters are taking their first steps into the world of dance.

"Ballet has gentle, beautiful elements, but the distinctiveness of each piece has to be stressed through the dancer's expression.

"Dancers can acquire graceful and beautiful technique but in order to reach an audience, the feeling must come from inside. Smile from the heart."

For further information about the festival and reservations, visit Thaiticketmajor.com.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation