DYNAMICS OF THE DUO

“What is your name?” Jerome Bel asked Pichet Klunchun in a little quiz as what was billed as one of the final three performances of “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” began on Monday.

“How old are you?” It happened to be Pichet’s birthday. Typically enough for someone his age, he avoided being specific.

“What is your profession?”

As if he didn’t know already after 100-odd performances of this show around the world, Bel – the celebrated French choreographer of contemporary dance – learned that Pichet was a khon dancer.

And off they went.

Part of La Fete, the first of two shows at Chulalongkorn University’s Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts found Bel in a sports jacket, khaki trousers and thick-soled trainers and Pichet in a plain dark tee, black tights and no shoes.

With them onstage were two chairs and a laptop. The minimalism assured no distractions from their intimate pas de deux, a cultural exchange in which they talked a lot – about history, mythology and dance traditions – and danced a little. 

Never taking his eyes off the laptop screen, Bel played the cultural tourist, firing off his questions. The mention of Thai classical dance piqued his interest. 

Khon, Bel learned, was once the dance of the royal court but now plays primarily to tourists – at hotel restaurants, no less, “or sometimes around the swimming pool”. Pichet’s voice was high-pitched with bitterness.

He set out to demonstrate its subtlety, to demystify its codified gestures. He moved his arms up and down – it was part of a battle scene, he explained. The arms trace the setting sun, and now it was time for the warring armies to rest.

The revelation drew gasps from the audience, confirming Pichet’s assertion that few Thais actually understand the masked dance, despite childhood schooling in the Ramakien, from which khon derives.

Pichet did what he called a slow mourning walk, and then gestured as if to suggest dripping water. “This is a funeral,” Bel said softly. “It starts to rain. It is sadder.” Bel was learning to “read” khon. 

Pichet and Bel performed impeccably, having polished the duet since its premiere at the 2004 Bangkok Fringe Festival, and yet they talked as if meeting for the first time. Neither seemed to have any idea what the other would do next. It was as entertaining as it was informative.

Pichet had his turn asking questions, letting Bel explain his contemporary choreography. Bel said he’d lost interest in “spectacle” and wanted actual reality onstage – not a representation of it. What if the performers just stand there, for example, saying nothing, just looking at the audience?

"Jerome, I’m very disappointed,” Pichet replied, to general hilarity.

But Bel didn’t want viewers to get what they expected, he said nonchalantly. That’s too easy. He wanted to get them thinking. The notion is certainly valid, but I found his attempt to justify the concept of so little happening onstage a little too desperate. 

And because Bel’s inventive approach for “the equal people” came after Pichet’s highly representational dance for the monarchy, I couldn’t help feeling that Bel was using Pichet and khon to display his own “brilliance”.

Tuesday’s event had been hyped as the penultimate performance of “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” ahead of tomorrow’s denouement in Hua Hin. The duet was being put to rest forever. 

Not so, as it turns out.

After Tuesday’s show, its creator, Tang Fu Kuen, joined Pichet and Bel for an audience chat. Tang acknowledged that none of them expected anything more than the oneoff in 2004. But a German in the audience asked them to take the show there, and the rest became history. 

That history now looks set to continue unfolding. Bel delighted many viewers by saying they’d revive their “dance dialogue” at the right time and place, just not as frequently as in the last seven years. 

Wherever “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” travelled, Bel said, “One of us had to be jetlagged.” 

 

 

Next, please

The final performance of “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” – for now, anyway – is at the Vic Hua Hin tomorrow at 7.30pm, part of Fringe Festival. 

Call (032) 827 8145, and check out www.VicHuaHin.com.

Next weekend, La Fete brings “Cinematique”, which ingeniously crosses between the visual and performing arts, to Chula University. Find out more at (081) 559 7252 and www.LaFeteBangkok.com.