VIVID AND VIGOROUS VIRSKY

A few months ago, when the International Cultural Promotions announced the line-up of the Bangkok’s 14th International Festival of Dance and Music, I was a little surprised to find that Ukraine’s Virsky National Dance Company had been picked as the festival’s opener.
Nothing against the co-host country of the Euro 2012 football competition, it’s just that I’ve rarely had a good experience with folk dance extravaganza in Bangkok’s previous festivals. I became more enthusiastic when I read the glorifying review quoted from the New York Times on the show’s poster and noted that the company has performed in more than 70 countries in their 75-year history. Later, the YouTube clip on the festival’s website raised my anticipation a little higher, but video recordings of stage performances rarely do them complete justice.
My experience Monday evening at the Thailand Cultural Centre proved that my initial reaction was absolutely wrong about this folk dance spectacle.
The opening number “Ukaine, My Ukraine”, a truly sweeping dance spectacle overture with the whole company of 60 dancers showing different traditions from the country’s different regions, set the tone for the evening and gave the audience a glimpse of what to expect in the next 100 minutes. Their footwork was stunning but, best of all, the unity and vigour of the whole ensemble was at a level rarely seen here in Bangkok.
Following the well-balanced hodgepodge opener was a humorous “Povzunets” (“Crawlers”), in which the male dancers moved rapidly in the squatting position yet had such amazing strength in their legs that they could jump miraculously high from that position. That’s when I realised why Andriy Shevshenko is such a great striker.
The women also had moments to shine on their own, such as in the gracefully multi-hued “Vyshyvalnytsi” (“Embroideresess”), in which each dancer carried in a long line of yarn and crisscrossed one another’s path to create a piece of embroidery.
Selected loose simple short stories were recounted in some numbers, making them delightful and more than just a dance showcase, such as in the cutely romantic “Podolyanochka” (“The Nice Girl from Podill’a”).
The variety of colourful costumes and hand props from one number to another, most of which exhibited the country’s long tradition of handicrafts as well as the costume designer and the choreographer’s keen eyes for mixing and matching colours, added to our pleasure. Combined with the sheer energy of the dancers, we forgot that the set design consisted of just two pieces of traditional tapestry hung on the black curtain backdrop and that the music was canned.
Just like in most showcases of traditional performing arts by national companies, some crowd-pleasing signature jumps and swirls were repeated from time to time and we applauded to each time; the upbeat celebratory tone was retained almost throughout the evening; and the whole programme followed the standard formula – starting and ending with the whole company and making sure that each number lasted longer than 10 minutes.
The Festival now has a new logo and the main photo on its Bt150 programme book is a somewhat sultry image from a contemporary dance instead of those from an elaborate ballet or opera as in the past. This seems to indicate that the 2012 line-up offers both predictable performances as well as some surprises.
  

MORE TO COME
- Bangkok’s 14th International Festival of Dance and Music continues at the Thailand Cultural Centre until October 14. Most programmes start at 7:30pm.
- Get tickets at ThaiTicketMajor.
- For more details, visit www.BangkokFestivals.com.
 Picks of the Fest
 Here’s a short list of the programmes we’re most looking forward to watching at Bangkok’s 14th International Festival of Dance and Music.

BLAZE (TOMORROW AND SATURDAY)

The Festival has rarely presented street dance, and so, thanks to the Netherlands Embassy, youngsters who have saved their shopping and entertainment money will get to enjoy this international company plus the state-of-the-art digital video work. Another exciting fact: this is an Asia premiere. Check out BlazeTheShow.com/uk

QUASAR DANCE COMPANY (WEDNESDAY)

The Embassy of Brazil, who’s never disappointed the Festival audiences with their selections, brings in this contemporary dance company which bases their choreography on the diverse dance traditions of Brazil as well as modern dance. Discover them at www.QuasarCia|DeDanca.com.br.

BALTIC DANCE THEATRE |(SEPTEMBER 21)|
We can’t remember when’s the last time we saw a performance from Poland here in Bangkok. The Baltic Dance Theatre’s new interpretation of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring” and Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot” are both worth your attendance. They’re a new company, only two years young, but rapidly gaining recognition and praise. Their homepage is www.BaltyckiTeatrTanca.pl/en.

STATE BALLET OF BERLIN |(OCTOBER 2 AND 3)

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship between Germany and Thailand, the German Embassy is bringing in this “Swan Lake”, recreated by French choreographer Patrice Bart. We know that it’s another “Swan Lake” – and we’re sure this won’t be the last in the Festival – but, with 120 dancers, this is the grandest so far and whenever this company performs it, tickets are always completely sold out. We’ll protest by switching from German beer to Belgian if this show doesn’t prove that “size matters”. Visit www.Staatsballett-Berlin.de.

LIMN DANCE COMPANY
(OCTOBER 12)

Every year we write this sentence, and here it is: if you plan to see only one show in this year’s Festival, this is it. The reason is simple: in the whole line-up, this is the most internationally acclaimed company to have never visited Thailand – so thanks again to the US Embassy, who also brought in Paul Taylor Dance Company years ago. I remember taking a train out to New Jersey to watch them six years ago on my short trip to New York and I was blown away. Apart from the old works by the late legendary dancer and choreographer Jos