Asia Dance Channel

10 July 2010
By Pawit Mahasarinand
Photographs courtesy of Singapore Arts Festival & Esplanade: Theatres on the Bay

Despite the title, Pichet Klunchun is not simply walking in Nijinsky’s footsteps.

A century ago when Siam's Bud Mahinot Dance Company performed across Europe, the great Russian ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky was so inspired that he created a solo called La danse siamoise. This he performed at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg and later at the Paris Opera.

The historic performance was not filmed — there were only still photographs of Nijinsky in choreographic poses, and the audience saw that they’re mostly taken not in the theatre but outdoors in a garden. There’s been no attempt to re-create this performance until the classical Thai dancer and choreographer started collecting these photographs and conducting research on the topic a few years ago.

That’s what the slide projections informed the audience during Pichet Klunchun Dance Company’s Nijinsky Siam, which had its world premiere at the Victoria Theatre as part of Esplanade’s ConversAsians in association with Singapore Arts Festival 2010.

The audience was enthralled from the outset with newly crafted nang yai—large shadow puppets—depicting Nijinsky in some of his poses from La danse siamoise. In his ‘practice as research’—an attempt to piece together a choreography of the solo dance from the photographs—Pichet used this traditional Thai theatre form that’s closely linked with Khon.

Pichet and two of his company members Sunon Wachirawarakarn and Padung Jumpan introduced themselves afterward and the characters they'd performed—the female lead, or princess, the demon and the monkey—while the screen held a photo of Nijinsky with the words "I am a Prince." This shows after the research, Pichet concluded that the Russian’s movements were closest to those of the male lead character’s in classical Thai dance.

The photos of him changed, moving from one pose to another, while Pichet, Sunon and Padung danced their own characters in total silence. This scene that lasted about 10 minutes and was very demanding for the audience. It suggested that the audience should focus solely on the movements so they could see that La danse siamoise, despite the similarities, was far from classical Thai dance.

Nijinsky was famous for his high leap, and one photograph seemed to show that he did his signature move in this solo. Pichet, Sunon and Padung also showed here that the jump didn’t belong in classical Thai dance.

The 50-minute show closed with Pichet in a costume reminiscent of Nijinsky's ("rather Tibetan than Siamese", he said in a previous interview).

He showed Singapore what St Petersburg and Paris watched more than a century ago, and for those who understood classical Thai dance, it looked like nothing more than an intercultural mishmash.

The scene ended with the line "My name is Pichet Klunchun" projected on the backdrop, stressing who he was not and confirming that this is no tribute.