• Share |
• 
• 

If our Culture Ministry followed the example of those in many other countries and awarded annual recognition to supportive organisations, the Japan Foundation in Bangkok would top the list for 2009.

Though the many activities it backs in Thailand, including Mekong-Japan Exchange Year, the foundation shows how a foreign institution's mission can go beyond merely sharing its native culture.

With Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani and Chulalongkorn universities, the foundation co-sponsored the recent "Yui" workshops on costume design, dance and theatre. These featured Japanese leaders in the fields - Shingo Tokihiro, Hana Saegusa and Ryoko Takami, respectively.

The workshop in Bangkok at the Siam Society auditorium drew more than 60 designers, lecturers and students. They spent a day and a half interpreting three short plays on the theme of yui (which means "tying"), in costume design, play reading and contemporary dance, and then combined all the elements for a 50-minute public performance.

It was simple but insightful, underscoring theatre as the composite art it's always been. Yet in this country, dancers and actors are usually trained and perform separately.

"We learned how to cut a single piece of cloth into a pattern without breaking it," said workshop participant Wasurachata Unaprom, a designer and the director of "Silent Scream: Journey to the Dream of Murderer".

"Then we painted it, the way you decorate a sarong, with designs inspired by the three short plays. They were very functional and stylish."

Skowrin Pranchaleethirawat, a theatre lecturer at Mahasarakham University, was just as impressed by the lesson.

"It was eye-opening to see how one piece of fabric can take various forms and have many different functions onstage," she said.

"Tokihiro stressed that, while design is important, function is more important, so we should design things to have as many functions as possible. Sounds like the sufficiency economy, doesn't it?"

"I now understand contemporary dance better," added Donlaya Wannamahin, who's majoring in classical ballet at Chulalongkorn.

"I could see how we can express meaning with our physical movement by connecting with a dance partner using different parts of our body. It's like looking at a black-and-white photo or Japanese calligraphy, perhaps: It's simple, but there's much more underneath."

Late last month, when contemporary dancer Setsuko Yamada visited Patravadi Theatre, the order was reversed: two performances followed by a half-day workshop.

Making its world premiere, Yamada's solo dance piece "Wearing Rose Pink" was inspired by Andrew Wyeth's painting "Christina's World" and Virginia Woolf's novel "To the Lighthouse".

That's it for Japanese performing arts in Bangkok this year, but you can still enjoy some visual arts.

Continuing at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre until January 10 (except next week, when the centre is closed), and also part of Mekong-Japan Exchange Year, is "Twist and Shout".

The free exhibition of paintings, sculpture, videos, photographs and installation pieces by 17 artists explores Japanese pop culture.