Master of INNOVATION

17 May 2009

Bangkok, Thailand

By Pawit Mahasarinand

Alone, in pairs, and in groups, Pichet Klunchun and Akram Khan enlighten the stage with their dance.

Pichet Klunchun and Akram Khan’s collaborations in dance dialogues and dance theatre—whether solo, duet, or company works—remain engaging because of the way they mingle cultures.

Last year “Pichet Klunchun and Myself”, a demystification of khon with French performance artist Jerome Bel “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” was honored with European Cultural Foundation’s Cultural Diversity Award from the hands of HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. The work is still touring the world, though it’s  rarely staged in his homeland.

Pichet recently opened his new studio in Thung Khru, Thonburi with a revival of “I Am a Demon”, his 2005 solo work that’s inarguably his most personal.

From the start, thanks to the video of the late khon master Khru Chaiyot Khummanee, it shows why Pichet is the Pichet we know today.

Eventually, with the words “I Am a Demon” repeatedly projected, newly choreographed movements show that his backgrounds in various forms of dance and theatre have been integrated into both body and mind.

He is now drawing comparisons among them as well as, and, given the freedom of contemporary art, creating new movements for the traditional forms, notwithstanding the rules.

Born in London of Bangladeshi descent, Akram Khan became interested in kathak as a child and went on to study with one of the masters the traditional Indian dance. Cast in a globe-trotting landmark intercultural theatre production of Peter Brook’s “The Mahabharata” in the 1980s and studied various forms of dance in university, Khan has seen the world and continued to walk the thin line between traditional and modern and among different cultural boundaries.

Apart from his famous solo works like “Polaroid Feet” (2001), his Akram Khan Company also turned heads and bagged awards with “ma” (2004).

In 2006, he collaborated with world-renowned Belgian choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui in “Zero Degrees”, a duet in which the two masters exchanged ideas and thoughts on choreography.

The following year brought another dance dialogue “Sacred Monsters” with French prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem. No surprise: both dance dialogues—which allowed major movers, from different backgrounds, to speak and share both with each other and the audience—had been touring to major cultural capitals and festivals around the world.

In early 2008, Akram worked with dancers from National Ballet of China in “bahok”, a contemporary dance work previously scheduled to be performed at Thailand Cultural Center but then cancelled due to the death of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana. And that’s the closest we’ve been to seeing his work here.

Khan raised the ante in his latest work, a dance theatre collaboration with Oscar-winning French actress Juliette Binoche entitled “In-I”, premiered last October in London. One weekend run at the recent Hong Kong Arts Festival made it possible for me to catch it live.

Binoche—who never trained as a dancer and thus taking a major risk here—was able to pull off technically demanding and injury risking movements with the help of rehearsal director and dance coach Hsu Su-Man, albeit as a professional performer not as a dancer.

The 14-scene physical and visceral portrayal of love was interspersed with just the right amount of dialogues and compelling music score by Philip Sheppard. The performance gave Khan a good opportunity to broaden his audience, both in its number and its perspectives.

Pichet, meanwhile, has renamed his “Life Work Company” as “Pichet Klunchun Dance Company”, probably because that’s what audiences around the world thought it was anyway. After having to postpone his trip to Mexico, because of the flu contagion, he is now collaborating with glass harpist Weeraphong Thaweesak on a new work, commissioned by, again, an overseas company.

In late July, he is performing solo in “Knesh” at Chang Theatre. Then, he will join his company in a new dance theatre work titled “The Battle of the Sun”.

“The color of the sun is red, so you know where I’m going with this work,” he recently told us. Given his 2007 stage appearance in a Manchester City jersey, yes, we know where he’s heading. In addition, he plans to develop one of his previous works “Chui Chai”, as a possible commission for next year’s Lincoln Center Festival. Keep track of his company at www.pklifework.com (he hasn’t had time to start a new website yet).

After having worked and toured extensively for the past 10 years, Khan is on sabbatical leave until mid-September, when he will take “In-I” to Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City, followed by a short run in Paris in early October. “Bahok” will then perform in mid-October in Adelaide. The official website is www.akramkhancompany.net.

Having Pichet Klunchun and Akram Khan them together onstage would be a contemporary dance phenomenon. Many Thai producers have the resources, both financial and administrative, to pull it off. The question remains whether they want to deal with these two artists, who cannot be pigeon-holed into any one genre.

The writer wishes to thank Pichet Klunchun Dance Company’s Sojirat Singholka and The Hong Kong Arts Festival Society’s Alexia Chow and Dennis Wu.