Russian skaters and Brazilian street dancers whet the appetite for a truly delicious international fest
Last Friday, Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn graciously presided over the opening performance of Bangkok's 13th International Festival of Music and Dance, the Imperial Ice Stars' "Swan Lake on Ice", at the Thailand Cultural Centre.
Wanting to avoid the Friday night traffic mayhem, I chose to go on Saturday evening. In comparison to the festival's previous years' curtain raisers, the return, after "Cinderella" two years ago, of the UK-run company of Russian former competitive ice skaters with this show seemed lighter and less exciting. The Imperial Ice Stars had performed in Singapore the previous weekend but not as part of any festival.
That said, it was a delightful and entertaining show from start to finish, as evidenced by the frequent applause by the audience who were thrilled by the performers' extraordinary moves. Director Nick Mercer apparently wanted to balance sports skills and dance grace, and this "Swan Lake" showed that he seemed to favour the former — Tchaikovsky's music was rearranged and the whole performance clocked in at exactly two hours.
It was also refreshing to see another take on "Swan Lake" at the Festival, which has presented this classic work by many companies over the years. Again, it's not as invigorating as Matthew Bourne's contemporary dance, which Thai dance fans can only watch on DVD.
This past Tuesday, the Embassy of Brazil presented the Asian premiere of "Bale de Rua" (the name of the company and the show), which showed that Brazilians are natural-born dancers just as Russians are natural-born ice skaters.
Not only that, the 80-minute performance that has also been staged at dance meccas like London's Sadler's Wells and Lyon's Biennale de la Danse, proved that it's not just merely another "cultural show" or "dance spectacle" comprising highly disciplined dancers, a powerful singer, pulsating rhythms and electrifying lighting effects.
The show achieved that by its smart use of images of religious faith, struggles, poverty (and many of the dance ensemble members personally shared the experiences of these), in addition to slavery, as the show's loose narrative traces back to the immigration of African people and culture and links them to contemporary milieu — for example, from capoeira to hip hop.
Unlike some embassies, which constantly inject the same cultural stereotypes into our minds via their participation at this Festival, "Bale de Rua" is very different from last year's Brazilian company Cisne Negro, although both showed the spirit of the country.
Now I'm dreaming of watching performances by Grupo Corpo or Grupo de Rua, another two prominent globe-trotting dance troupes, here in the next Festival.
Next week, the Festival will welcome one of the world's best ballet companies the Mariinsky Ballet who will perform three programmes, accompanied live by the Mariinsky Orchestra, under the baton of Alexei Repnikov.
Mariinsky's triple delights
- "Le Corsaire" is on Tuesday and Wednesday; Mariinsky Ballet Gala (an evening of short programmes) on Thursday; and "Don Quixote" on Saturday (September 24) and Sunday (September 25). All shows are at the Thailand Cultural Centre and start at 7:30pm, except September 25 at 2:30pm. Tickets cost from Bt1,000 to Bt 4,500, available at Thaiticketmajor and at the door. Visit www.BangkokFestivals.com and www.Mariinsky.tu for more details.
