Dance and Theatre
Previews, Interviews, and Reviews (yes, and Photos) of Dance and Theatre in Thailand (well, and elsewhere) written by "The Nation" dance and theatre critics
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Wednesday , February 3 , 2010
Pichet Klunchun on ‘TRANSFORMING TRADITION’
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Dance 2010
Theatre 2010
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 Last August, Pichet Klunchun and I were invited by the Goethe Institut to a four-day regional dance summit in Jakarta. Towards the end, the Silpathorn Award artist made an intriguing comment on the summit’s title "Transforming Tradition", and many colleagues have since asked him to elaborate on this.And so, before performing this weekend in Hua Hin, Pichet sat down and shared some of his th....
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Sunday , January 31 , 2010
10 BEST Thai Theatres of the DECADE
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Reader : 208
, 23:42:43
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Theatre 2009
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 The theatre's had plenty to celebrate in the first decade of this millennium but the most important event of the noughties was undoubtedly the formation of the Bangkok Theatre Network (BTN) in mid-2002. This alliance of professional and student dance and theatre troupes led to the organisation of annual showcase known as Bangkok Theatre Festival, which kicked off later that year and is still going st....
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Saturday , January 30 , 2010
Gained in ‘TRADAPTATION’
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Reader : 377
, 23:56:41
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
Theatre 2010
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 Some enticing 'tradaptations' of foreign dramas were staged in Bangkok last year and now one of them is returning. Ever since lakhon phut ("spoken drama") came into the repertoire of Thai theatre 100 years ago, translations and adaptations of foreign dramatic works have played many roles. Not only are new stories told across cultural boundaries, but new styles of theatrical presentation are....
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Friday , January 29 , 2010
VIBES still resonating at PATRAVADI THEATRE
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Reader : 203
, 01:16:39
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Dance 2010
Theatre 2010
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 Two intercultural dance collaborations keep the vibe going at Patravadi Theatre. Patravadi Mechudhon may be spending most of her time these days at Vic Hua Hin in Prachuap Khiri Khan, while Manop Meechamrat stays over at Suan Silp Ban Din in Ratchaburi, but that doesn't mean that there's nothing going on at the company's first home in Thon Buri. Supported by the Asia Europe Foundation as a continuati....
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Thursday , January 28 , 2010
Japan’s GIFTS to Thailand
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Reader : 193
, 22:42:36
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
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 The Japan Foundation again shines brightest among foreign agencies that foster local creativity.If our Culture Ministry followed the example of those in many other countries and awarded annual recognition to supportive organizations, the Japan Foundation Bangkok would top the list for 2009. With all the cultural activities, considerably boosted by the Mekong Japan Exchange year, they prove that a for....
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Tuesday , January 26 , 2010
MEKONG: Where cultures’ paths CONVERGE
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Reader : 215
, 23:56:14
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
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 The Mekong Arts and Media Festival weaves disparate visions into a brighter future.The Mekong Arts and Media Festival is a well-organised, multifaceted festival that proves how dance and theatre serve not only cultural purposes, but social, educational and economic ones. Attended by a few hundred artists, students, drama teachers, public officials and cultural and development workers from 11 countrie....
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Monday , January 25 , 2010
Exciting COLLABORATIONS in the small world of Thai arts
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Reader : 197
, 23:44:40
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
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 B-Floor Theatre has turned its office and rehearsal studio in Pridi Banomyong Institute, exactly the same size as that of Crescent Moon Space nearby, into a new venue called "B-Floor's Room", with a debut work beguilingly and ironically titled Displacement (Phid Thi Phid Thang), a collaboration between Jarunun Phantachat and Dujdao Vadhanapakorn, both of whom perform alongside other B-Floor....
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Thursday , January 21 , 2010
DUNAS: a MEETING of the MOTIONS
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Reader : 206
, 23:46:25
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Dance 2009
da:ns 2009, Esplanade
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 Contemporary dance unites brilliantly with flamenco for a world tour launched in Singapore.The four-year-young da:ns festival scored a coup at Singapore’s Esplanade in October by giving the world its first look—right here in Southeast Asia—at Dunas, a new work by flamenco performer Maria Pages and contemporary dancer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. At the start, the stage was filled with two large pieces of fa....
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Tuesday , January 19 , 2010
SONG of Pensive Holding
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Reader : 395
, 23:23:10
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Dance 2009
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 Taiwan's Legend Lin Dance Theatre gives the stage a natural appeal.Last September we watched and were enthralled by Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. Here's another major dance company from the East Asian country—the Legend Lin Dance Theatre. Like watching a Cloud Gate performance, one doesn't need to be a dance critic to clearly notice and to fully feel the strength of the ensemble of dancers and ....
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Monday , January 18 , 2010
A new ARTS hub: HUA HIN
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Reader : 1574
, 23:55:19
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Dance 2010
Theatre 2010
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 Fringe Festival 2010, starting on Friday, January 22 finds a new home on the seashore.Despite some changes in its brief yet significant history lasting more than a decade, Fringe Festival, organised by Patravadi Theatre, remains one of those rare well-curated multidisciplinary contemporary arts festivals in this country. This year, it has found a new, and probably permanent, home at a new arts centre....
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Sunday , January 17 , 2010
SENIORS tread the boards
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Reader : 283
, 22:57:27
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Theatre 2010
Bangkok Festivals 2010
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 Student theatre makers from four of Bangkok's universities showcase their talents this month and next.The battle of jukebox musicals is on this weekend but Scenario's Lom Haichai and Workpoint's The Legend of Re Khai Fun are far from being the only noteworthy stage events. Four senior project theatre festivals are up and running concurrently now, and all are worth our attention. Unlike their professi....
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Sunday , December 20 , 2009
Celebrating DANCE of DEATH
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Reader : 415
, 12:41:43
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Dance 2009
Bangkok Festivals 2009
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 A photo exhibition, performances and workshops celebrate Japanese contemporary dance movement that started half a century ago.“Dance of Death” has continued to evolve thanks in part to its focus on individual artist’s creativity—in other words, although one study with a master, s/he, unlike in classical performing arts, has plenty of artistic freedom to create their unique style or to blend it with o....
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Friday , December 11 , 2009
FRENCH in form, LAO in spirit
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Reader : 464
, 22:14:47
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Theatre 2009
Bangkok Festivals 2009
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 Vientiane's object theatre troupe Kabong Lao is a must-see at the International Street Show.Of all the troupes performing at the Mekong Arts and Media Festival two weeks ago in Phnom Penh, one of the audience's favourites was Kabong Lao, a nine-year-old object theatre company based in Vientiane. Either performing indoors at the Chaktomuk Hall or outdoors near the Mekong riverbank, their short comic s....
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Thursday , December 10 , 2009
National Theatre re-opens with INTERNATIONAL PUPPET FESTIVAL
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Reader : 1406
, 00:24:18
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Theatre 2009
Bangkok Festivals 2009
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 Marionettes have taken control of the National Theatre for the International Puppet Festival.In this so-called "creative economy" era, when a good public-relations campaign can make any performing-arts event look much better than what it actually is, many activities that don't have an effective publicity machine fall by the wayside and lose out on the audience numbers they deserve. Such is ....
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Friday , November 27 , 2009
The dead LIVE again
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Reader : 486
, 18:13:38
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
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 The better incarnations of Mae Nak return, along with another acclaimed show from the other side.The three-way battle earlier this year among stage shows based on Thailand's favourite horror folk tale, Mae Nak, saw critics and audiences choose a better script and acting over expensive marketing and extravagant stage design. Dreambox's Mae Nak the Musical and New Theatre Society's Nang Nak the Museum ....
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Wednesday , November 25 , 2009
In the mind of a KILLER
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Reader : 503
, 08:59:53
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
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 Camus’ Misunderstanding inspires the movements, sound and visuals of Silent ScreamWasurachata Unaprom first studied Albert Camus' 1943 play The Misunderstanding (Le Malentendu) 10 years ago when he was studying drama at Thammasat University. "I was particularly struck by the daughter, Martha, who joined her mother in murdering her elder brother when he returned home after 15 years, just as th....
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Thursday , November 19 , 2009
Sibling RIVELRY
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Reader : 474
, 07:23:46
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Theatre 2009
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 With the uplifting Blood Brothers, the Bangkok Community Theatre offers some cash-crisis consolation.The Bangkok Community Theatre (BCT) hopes to cheer up everyone with Blood Brothers, a rousing musical about twin brothers separated at birth to lead "prince and pauper" lives. The brothers fall in love with the same woman and tragedy looms, but this is ultimately "a bright, high-energy,....
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Wednesday , November 18 , 2009
PROMENADE Performance
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Reader : 396
, 08:45:37
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Theatre 2009
Singapore Arts Festival 2009
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 A new approach to performance pulls viewers in, blurring the line between theatre and real life. Arts festivals offer more than ticketed performances and free street shows these days – they give us new experiences in innovative theatre. These take place outside the arts centres and playhouses, in places we regularly frequent, like cafes, and sometimes it’s the viewers who become the actors. I experie....
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Tuesday , November 17 , 2009
MEKONG FESTIVAL: a reach as long as the river
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Reader : 467
, 19:17:26
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
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 The Philippine Educational Theatre Association extends its aid to nurture far-flung arts groups and address their social challenges. Theatre can entertain—and it can also foment change in society. In fact, if theatre's sole purpose were entertainment, it would not have survived the advent of film and television. Witness the Mekong Arts and Media Festival “Weaving Cultures, Weaving Visions” from Novem....
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Sunday , November 15 , 2009
a MIXED bag of MOVES
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Reader : 500
, 01:15:19
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
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 Three Sisters was more memorable than We’re Gonna Go Dancing 2009.Within the span of less than two weeks in August, Japan Foundation and Patravadi Theatre co-hosted two contemporary dance events, involving four works by Japanese performing artists and one by local troupe as part of the Mekong-Japan exchange year. On August 14, Japan Contemporary Dance Network (JCDN) was back in town after the success....
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Saturday , November 14 , 2009
CLOUD GATE blows open
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Reader : 497
, 23:18:32
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Dance 2009
Bangkok Festivals 2009
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 Two performances—in Bangkok and London—show different sides of Taiwan’s top contemporary dance company. Weeks have passed and people are still talking about Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan’s first visit to Bangkok when they staged two unforgettable performances of Moon Water, as part of Bangkok’s 11th Festival of Dance and Music. The financial and administrative efforts of the Taipei Economic and ....
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Friday , November 13 , 2009
Bangkok STAGE full of Japanese SKILLS
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Reader : 454
, 08:36:22
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Dance 2009
Theatre 2009
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 The Japan Foundation is bringing in top talents to share with Thai artists and audiences. Thanks in part to Japan-Mekong Exchange Year, the Japan Foundation Bangkok has become the city's most active cultural organisation. It has two visual arts exhibitions—“Twist and Shout” and “Here and Now”—on view at the Art and Culture Centre and 100 Tonson Gallery, and on the way to Thailand are a contemporary d....
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Friday , November 6 , 2009
TISTOU and his GREEN thumbs
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Reader : 445
, 22:28:16
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Theatre 2009
Bangkok Festivals 2009
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 With Crescent Moon Theatre's actors and Kae Dam Dam's puppeteers pulling the strings, puppets conspire to bring about world peace.Silpathorn laureate Sineenadh "Nad" Keitprapai, artistic director of Crescent Moon Theatre (Phra Chan Siew Kan Lakorn), has long been a fan of the puppet-theatre troupe Kae Dam Dam (literally "blackish sheep"), and was keen to collaborate. “His string p....
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Wednesday , November 4 , 2009
FUN+
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Reader : 339
, 07:44:00
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Dance 2009
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 A new dance performance promises various moves and some thoughts.Fresh from performing the title character in 12 Inch Theatre's Carmen last month, dancer and choreographer Meuanphun "Orn" Ampunsang has invited some Carmen pals to join students from her Point Studio, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary, for her new production titled Phun ("Dream"). "The English title i....
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Tuesday , November 3 , 2009
Interaction between FOREIGN GUESTS and LOCALS
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Reader : 441
, 00:55:45
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Dance 2009
Bangkok Festivals 2009
Melbourne, October 2009
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 At the Fairfax Studio in Melbourne’s Arts Centre, I was listening to a Jerusalem-born, Brighton-based talk in a public forum as part of Melbourne International Arts Festival where his company was performing. As far as I enjoyed his talk, and later that evening, was impressed by his company’s performance, I had an odd feeling when an audience asked him, “How much do you know about Australian dance?”, ....
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