Ongoing until March 25, the world's leading dance troupes show off their best moves in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket as part of International Dance Festival 2009.

“The past eight festivals have played a part, along with other dance activities in Thailand, in showing to the general public that contemporary dance is not that difficult to understand—for me, it’s easier than classical ballet,” says Vararom Pachimsawat, the director of friends of the Arts Foundation and artistic director of the festival.

“Also, this experience has opened up the perceptions of local dancers and choreographers of many generations. Many have realized that in order to be a good dancer you should never limit yourself to only classical ballet or jazz dance and even stage actors join dance workshops—they know that all genres of performing arts are interrelated.”

The shrinking economy has shrunk most cultural events, but not the International Dance Festival. The ninth edition of the fest has attracted more of the world's top troupes than ever before.

“It is our ninth year organizing this festival and we have more cultural partners [various foreign embassies and cultural institutions]. Over the years, the outdoors stage has had technical limitations, and some participating artists wished that some of their performances staged indoors in the theatre.”

“Of course, there remain many free events (at Benjasiri Park from Friday, March 13 to Sunday, March 15). That’s a goal of the Friends of the Arts Foundation to promote performing arts among general public.”

“The focus, as always, is on [various styles of] contemporary dance, rather than full-scale classical works like ‘Swan Lake’. We’d like to stimulate the audience, especially the younger generations, as well. In fact, classical works are beautiful, but you need to think along when you watch contemporary dance—what they’re doing on stage. This reflects what’s actually happening in the world of dance today—the number of truly classical companies drops every year partly because of the state’s funding. With this in mind, we should support our individual artists to work as freelance artists who are all-around and willing to collaborate with others.”

A doyenne of Thailand’s contemporary dance picks out a few highlights:

“Ballet Prague is a big company with more than four decades of history—they also do classical works, but we pick a contemporary one [‘Te Deum’, by world renowned Czech choreographers Pavel Smok and Lucy Holankova] for the festival [Monday and Tuesday, March 16 and 17 at Aksra Theatre]. China’s Chongqing Dance Company is another major one [Wednesday, March 18 at Aksra Theatre]. If you look at their photos, you may think of traditional acrobats, but, no, their works actually mix modern and ethnic dances. A folkloric dance group Reda Troupe, which will open the ticketed events of the festival [Saturday, March 14 at Centerpoint Playhouse], is another example of this blend and will show that they do more than belly dance in Egypt.”

“Another exciting work is ‘Touch’ by Italy’s Oplas Theatre [Monday, March 16 at Centerpoint Playhouse]. They’ve been rehearsing here since last month, and just recruited a young performer from Phuket, who’s never had formal dance training yet with natural dance talent, into their production and will go on a European tour with them. Although I watched their performance on DVD, I was stunned by their creativity and athleticism when I saw them dance on high stilts in rehearsal.”

A new work is born out of last year’s festival, “The Last Silver Crane”, a collaboration of Israel’s Idan Cohen; Thailand’s contemporary dancers May Yimsai and Olivier Vinkler, Khon master Julachart Aranyanak; and Sri Lanka’s percussionist Ravibandhu Vidyapathy. Vararom says, “After last year’s festival [in which another Israeli dancer/ choreographer Ido Tadmor performed], Ido initiated this idea of working with a Khon dancer, and I suggested master Julachart as he has had experiences in intercultural collaborations.”

Plus, the participating dancers and choreographers will conduct master classes at Dance Centre in Central World all day from Monday (March 16) to Friday (March 20). Varorom says, “Despite the 12 ticketed performances [at Centerpoint Playhouse and Aksra Theatre], the festival is not a commercial event and the foundation is first and foremost education-based.” 

“International Dance Festival 2009” runs from Friday (March 13) to next Friday (March 20) in Bangkok; from March 18 to 21 at Jungceylon in Phuket; and from March 22 to 25 at Tha Phae Gate Walking Street in Chiang Mai. Tickets to main events in Bangkok at Centerpoint Playhouse (in Central World, BTS: Siam Square) and Aksra Theatre (in Soi Rang Nam, BTS: Victory Monument) are from Bt 500 to Bt 1,500 (Bt 250 for students), bookable at Thaiticketmajor. For more, click to www.friends-of-the-Arts.info, call 02 259 8861, or email info@friends-of-the-arts.info.

written by Pawit Mahasarinand

published in Daily Xpress on Friday, March 13, 2009

photo courtesy of Friends of the Arts Foundation