Fishing for pearls

Jitti Chompee, veteran choreographer and artistic director of 18 Monkeys Dance Theatre, spent a delightful three-month residency in Paris last year thanks to a grant from the French Embassy in Bangkok and Institut Francais.

“In Paris, I was also conducting research for my choreography for Nederlandse Reisopera’s production of ‘Les Pecheurs de Perles’ (‘The Pearl Fishers’),” he tells XP. 

“At the same time, I was thinking of my own production, a smaller one of course, and so I was trying to find a music director and singers who could help me. I didn’t succeed: some said it was impossible, others didn’t want any change to the original score.

“Then I met Spanish photographer Juan Carlos Toledo and we agreed to turn my original ideas for this production into his photographs.

“I then turned these photographs into my choreography when I got to the Netherlands. I didn’t have enough money to hire professional dancers to work with when I was in Paris and so photography was a good choice for preliminary research, which I continued to develop.” 

At the Nederlandse Reisopera, Jitti met French pianist Jean-Paul Pruna who has been his music adviser for La Fete’s version of the work. 

Jitti explains, “He helped minimalise the score and also rehearsed with the two French performers, Yannick Badier and Yannis Francois. I met the former at a festival in Germany and while he is a dancer by profession, his singing voice is very beautiful and he’s crossing over to opera singing now. The latter was also dancing in Maurice Bejart’s company and it’s Bejart himself who recommended that he start singing in operas.

“And by coincide, the Spanish photographer Juan Carlos is also a dancer. So, he’ll be performing here as well.”

Other cast members include 18 Monkeys Dance Theatre’s Klittin Kiatmetha, who’s worked with Toledo since the production’s initial phase in the Netherlands, and seasoned actress Pattarasuda Anuman Rajadhon, whose performance in last year’s “The Cult of Monte Cristo” and “The Maids” was critically acclaimed here. 

“In some scenes, they represent specific characters; in others, they don’t. Juan Carlos’ photographs also help narrate the story and 11 of these will be on display at the venue. That will allow the audience to make connections and see how this work originated from them. Actually, the audience members will probably understand what’s going on in the entire story from watching just one scene. This work is my impression of Bizet’s opera and so instead of calling it an opera I would call it a contemporary performance.”

Jitti has chosen the Rose Hotel as his venue, saying, “the exterior of the old building with the fire escape stairs hanging out looks like those in ‘West Side Story’. It’s a kind of overlooked yet charming space in Bangkok and it fits this site-specific performance very well. Also, La Fete loves spreading its venues around the city and this would give a different experience from the conventional theatre venue. We can play with both levels and distance as some songs need to be rendered from afar, the way Bizet wanted.

“And if it rains, we have a have Plan B – the adjacent building has a covered area to where the audience can move and still enjoy the performance.”

 

Balancing Bizet

18 Monkeys Dance Theatre’s “Les Pecheurs de Perles” is at Rose Hotel on Surawong Road tonight and tomorrow night at 8.

Taking the BTS to Sala Daeng or the MRT to Sam Yan is the easiest way of getting there.

Tickets are Bt250 (Bt 150for students) at ThaiTicketMajor.

Find out more at www.18MonkeysDanceTheatre.com, www.LaFete-Bangkok.com and Facebook/LaFete.Festival.