Dancing to Singapore

Published on January 25, 2008

The next stop for "Dancing to Nirvana", the acclaimed dance production by Bangkok University's Department of Performing Arts, will be Singapore's Esplanade: Theatres on the Bay. The production had its world premiere last June at the Apostrof 2007 (International Festival of Independent and Amateur Theatres) in Prague, and was performed in Bangkok in September.

"This production was aimed for an international audience from the beginning," says veteran director Pannasak Sukhee. "It's one of our department's policies to present our works overseas. Well, the local venues are quite limited at the moment. Also, we want to develop our students' skills. We'd like to give them a chance to perform on national and international stages."

Taking shows on the road helps students learn more, Pannasak says. "When we took our youth theatre production of  'I Shall Ride the Rainbow When I Grow Up' to Japan a few years ago, as well as 'Dancing to Nirvana' to the Czech Republic last June, our students learned a lot, matured, and became major forces in our subsequent productions.

"Having experienced these two very different festivals, their world views changed, and they had a chance to watch various kinds of stage performances, a few of which they watched and studied here in Thailand. They felt that they still had a lot to learn and they need to continue to develop themselves before they graduate to become professionals in this field."

Singapore's Esplanade: Theatres on the Bay, known as the "Durian", for its resemblance to the spiky fruit, is a natural next step for "Nirvana", says the director. "First, it's close to Thailand, and we can afford the travel expenses. Also, we noted that they charge a reasonable price for admission."

Additionally, the show's producer, Department of Performing Arts chairman Wankwan Polachan, has "learned a lot about management", Pannasak says.

Even so, the budget is huge, when all the expenses for venue rental, transportation, accommodation, are accounted for. Bangkok University is pitching in tremendously, and when you click the university's website, you'll see that this remarkable event is featured on the main page.

"Dancing to Nirvana" is set in the city of Bangkok where the political turmoil fills the air. An anonymous main character She, a nightclub dancer takes solace in her daily morning ritual as she secretly watches and follows a line of Buddhist monks serenely collecting alms each morning. Her guilt prevents her from going beyond the gate of the temple, and simply returning to her shelter, filled with memories of false dreams, unfulfilled earthly desires and casual relationships.

"I've been working closely with our choreographer Parinya Tongponthong and music composer Atiphop Pataradetpisan. Sometimes, Parinya and I create the stage visuals first, and then have Atiphop [a muic professor at Mahidol University] write the score accordingly. Other times, it's the other way around."

Pannasak says he hopes the themes of "Dancing to Nirvana" will serve as a tool for the teachings of Lord Buddha.

"I'd like to show how contemporary people are suffering, while trying to find ways out of this life of hardship," Pannasak says. "From the beginning, we haven't been properly introduced to Buddhist teachings - we now don't really understand them and can't apply them to real life. We've been engulfed in the streams of materialism, so much so that we can't reach the true meaning of Buddhism."

After playing at the Prague festival, "Nirvana" went through some thematic and textual changes for its performance at the Black Box Theatre in Bangkok back in September. Virtually no more changes will be made for the Singapore show. "The Esplanade Theatre Studio is smaller than our Black Box Theatre, [so] we need to adjust the set design so that it fits the venue. We still retain the environmental design in which many scenes take place on the side of and behind the audience though."

Although "Nirvana" will be performed in Thai and Pali, with no English surtitles, the production team has made many attempts to make sure that international audiences will understand and enjoy it as much as their Thai counterparts.

"Apart from the synopses of all the scenes, we also translated the complete script to be put in the programme booklet for the audience," says Pannasak.

Well, after all, many messages are conveyed physically, musically, and visually, and most Singaporeans are Buddhists.

Pawit Mahasarinand