Once the applause is over

Bangkok’s 13th International Music and Dance Festival drew its curtain following a flurry of much gusto last weekend, with Ballet Nacional de Espana earning a standing ovation from a normally reserved audience.
The prologue to the evening’s first piece, “Dualia”, presented male dancers in engaging, flowing movements in their gestures and swaths of black cloth they swirled around.
Unlike the ballet we usually see, Spanish dance steps are rooted to the ground, so the use of the sheets was a smart way to add a vertical dimension to the performance.
The rest of the show was no less impressive. Choreographers Carlos Rodr