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Cloud Gate’s Thai Pillar By Pawit Mahasarinand
Somkid Tiwan moved to Taiwan at the age of 15 and went on to finish his bachelor’s degree in electronic engineering. If all went as planned, he might now be working for a semiconductor company in Taipei. Instead, he’s been performing with Asia’s most renowned contemporary dance company, Cloud Gate, for 18 years, and is one of the company’s most recognisable dancers thanks to his height. At well over six feet (the tallest man in the photo), he looks more like a basketball player. But there’s no sign of a Thai name in the programme book for Bangkok’s 11th Festival of Dance and Music. Somkid, now 44, is known and listed as Sung Chao-chiun. He’s married to a Taiwanese woman, holds dual citizenship, speaks Chinese and English fluently as well as Thai and, despite 29 years in Taiwan, still feels that Thailand is home. "I was a marathon runner at university there but then I got injured, and dance therapy was part of my treatment," said Sung. "In college I was learning about transistor wafers and that sort of thing —well ahead of its time. So instead, I joined about five dance troupes in Taiwan, against my parents’ wishes, of course." He eventually landed a spot in the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre, Taiwan’s only full-time professional dance company, which nowadays admits only one new dancer a year. "When he auditioned he was very young, and we liked his size," says Lee Shing-shun, Cloud Gate’s associate artistic director. "He and Wang Chih-hao, who’s also very tall, always appear onstage as a pair. Because of them, Lin Hwai-Min created many extraordinary works, especially Songs of the Wanderers. People recognise them as the ‘two pillars’ of Cloud Gate." "At Cloud Gate," says Sung, "we study various styles and traditions, from classical ballet and modern dance to martial arts and Chinese-opera movements. I find that dance has opened my mind, and dance skills can be used in everyday life, not just in performances. "Everyone is a dancer. Dancing isn’t just moving, though you have to concentrate on what you’re doing.” "Cloud Gate dancers aren’t showing you the techniques nor telling a story nor sharing a concept. A piece of art contains thousands of details, and we’re concentrating on these details in our movements without shifting into a ‘let us show you’ mode.” "These movements mean something for the audience," Sung stresses. "We always leave space for interpretations by each member of the audience. And actually I think we should start instilling this sense of freedom of thought in our children." It’s important for Thais to discover "what really belongs to us," he says. "Classical ballet doesn’t." "Years ago the Taiwanese were also crazy about foreign culture, but they came to realise it’s not theirs. I’m not saying we should just present the classical works of old Siam. We should study the traditions so that we truly understand the concepts, and then create new works." The audiences at both the September 22nd and 23rd performances of Cloud Gate’s Moon Water had no idea there was a Thai dancer in the troupe, but the applause for the show was thunderous. Now that we know, there’s another reason to root for the return of Cloud Gate and its "Thai pillar" at next year’s festival. The writer wishes to thank Madame Jeane Huang and Jenjira van der Linden for their help in arranging this interview. Photography by Wolfgang Eckhardt, courtesy of Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan
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