The standing man

 Toulouse-based dancer, choreographer and director Pierre Rigal is already a favourite of La Fete having wowed audiences with his solo work “Press” in 2009 and the group work “Micro” in 2011. He’s back in Bangkok this weekend with “erection”, another solo effort.
 While we got to see “Press” and “Micro” a year after their premieres, “erection” is actually Rigal’s first work. He and his company Derniere Minute, so called because he thought of the name at the last minute, premiered the piece back in 2003.
“I’m celebrating not only the 10th anniversary of this work but also my company’s 10th birthday,” he explains. “I presented this piece in Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, USA, Canada, Australia and in Europe. The subject matter of the piece ‘a man trying to stand up’ is universal and that's one of the reasons why I’ve been able to present it to various audiences all over the world. I made some small changes but the piece is much the same.”
According to his website, “erection” – he insists on lower-casing the “e” – has been staged 143 times at 59 venues in 20 countries, yet never in Asia.
“I’m very proud to have the opportunity to present it to the audience in Bangkok, as part of La Fete where I always have great moments,” he says. “Thanks also to [French Embassy’s cultural attache] Benoit Etienne for inviting me.”
Aurelien Bory, another world-renowned choreographer, co-created “erection” with Rigal, who describes their collaboration as “a friendly relationship with a lot of artistic links”.
The title, though, has not been without its problems.
When the performance was part of the France-Atlanta Festival last October, the French Consulate suggested the title be changed to “The Standing Man” or “L'homme debout” so as to “disassociate the title from any other meaning”. The French cultural attache here in Bangkok doesn’t seem to share the same concerns.
Rigal notes, “I definitely prefer ‘erection’, the original title. It has a double sense and I assume both. I tell the long story of the transition from the lying position to the standing one and ‘erection’ is the perfect word to describe this movement.”
Before becoming a dancer and choreographer, Rigal studied mathematics, economics and cinema and also won medals in hurdles. “Sports are very important to my background as they were very useful in building my choreographic vocabulary. Maths gives me the taste of geometry, which you can also notice in this piece.”
Although “erection” is often billed as a solo contemporary dance performance, Rigal begs to differ. “It is a trio performance even if I'm the only one on the stage, because the video and the sound are live,” he explains. “I never use the term ‘contemporary dance’ to qualify my pieces because I work not only with dancers but also musicians, acrobats, actors, video designers, and sound engineers. It is more than just dance.”
The Australian newspaper’s dance critic Deborah Jones also takes note of this in her review, “Rarely is the synthesis [of dance, video and sound] achieved with so much authority and to such profound effect as in ‘erection’,” she writes.
“Rigal is first seen on his back between strips of light, arching and writhing. As ‘erection’ progresses he uses more and more of his body while still in gravity’s thrall. His movement is extreme and strong, sometimes ungainly, sometimes jittery, sometimes elastic, always poignant.
“This is the history of mankind, emerging from nothingness into the future and from the ground to the ether as he appears to float or levitate. At the end he has become something more than human, or perhaps less.”
“This is a work that could be seen again and again,” she concludes. “The performance is, of itself, spectacular, but the questions it provokes about the nature of our humanity are what make ‘erection’ unmissable.”
Even though Rigal has performed much more frequently in Europe than Asia, his most recent work “Theatre of Operations” was created in Korea and that seems to hint at a possibility of similar collaboration here, now that La Fete is on the same route.
“My stay in Seoul in December 2010 and my educational work within the Korean National Contemporary Dance Company allowed me to discover the technical wealth and the creativity of numerous Korean dancers. Their energy and vitality sharpened my desires. So I proposed this project to the LG Arts Centre of Seoul, which confirmed its active collaboration in the project as a co-producer,” he says.
“I really wanted to work with a group of dancers with a base of classic and contemporary techniques at very good level. The creation premiered in Seoul last September and then we organised with the Theatre Vidy-Lausanne a European tour from last November to this February. I would love to create a piece for Thai dancers if we have the chance to make it possible one day.”
For now, we’ll just enjoy his “erection”.

THE BIG BUILD-UP
“erection” will be performed at the Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts at Chulalongkorn University tonight and tomorrow night at 8. There are post-show talks with Rigal on both days.
Tickets cost Bt500 (Bt400 for students) at ThaiTicketMajor.
Call (081) 559 7252 or check www.LaFete-Bangkok.com, www.PierreRigal.net or “Drama Arts Chula” at Facebook.