Expressions in layers

Last Wednesday AST t the Alliance Frannaise de Bangkok Auditorium, HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn presided over the launch of La Fete with a superb concert by classical music combo Quatuor Parisii. The quartet also kicked off the programme of Franco-Thai cultural cooperation by holding a master-class at the Galyani Vadhana Institute of Music the following day.

That collaboration continues this week with “Loss”, a contemporary dance performance by A.lter S.essio featuring Japanese dancer Yum Keiko Takayama and our own Pichet Klunchun.

French director Fabrice Planquette says that this former solo morphed into a duet “just out of artistic curiosity”. 

“As a solo, it can be performed by anybody who is able to live in the situations proposed. The score is not made by movements but by actions, states and situations. And the audiovisual score is always the same. After creating the first version of ‘Loss’ with Yoko Higashino, Takayama, the other part of A.lter S.essio, interpreted it his way and thus we already had two versions. I then proposed to French dancer, Gianni Joseph, who performs our ‘Endurance’ that he try his own version of ‘Loss’. Then we thought it could be interesting to perform all the versions at the same time. So far we have only done duo versions – Takayama with Joseph and Takayama with Higashino – but we hope to make a bigger version in the near future, maybe with four dancers.”

Planquette also designed the images and sound. “I composed the music and the visuals first but I was already thinking in terms of the body inside this environment and how it could be ‘forced’ by the audiovisual. For us it does make sense: the work speaks about man and technique as well as man and system. It deals with something being out of control and questions the place of the human being,” he says.

After Joseph and Higashino, Cambodian dancer Belle Chumvan Sodhachivy took part in “Loss”, and now it’s Pichet’s turn. 

“Everyone has a very different approach to dance and comes from a very different background. The personality is very important. It changes the feeling and the relationship between the individual and the audiovisual proposition. For example, Yum [Keiko Takayama] seems very fragile and strange while Yoko [Higashino] is a kind of warrior and gave us something very physical. Our work is based on the meeting of an individual and a context to produce action-pictures that aim to stimulate the imagination of the audience. Depending on the personality of each choreographer-dancer, the feeling changes. With Belle and Pichet, the interesting elements come from their classical traditional dance skills. It gives a new and interesting view to this performance that we didn’t expect – something about tradition and modernism,” Plaquette says.

The choreographer adds that he’s wanted to collaborate with Pichet ever since he saw him dance for the first time.

“‘Loss’ is a good opportunity for it. He’s a really great dancer, and I’m very curious to see how he will interpret the ‘Loss’ performance with his own technique, culture and personality.”

As for the collaboration process, he says, “The score is really precise, but we don’t decide any movement. So first we identify every part – situations, actions and states – and find how the body can answer to it. Then we’ll try it with video and music as it’s really important to be in sync with them.”

After the performance, Thierry Viteau, the French ambassador to Thailand, will honour Pichet with the insignia of Chevalier of Arts and Letters, on behalf of the French Minister of Culture and Communication. 

 

ONE NIGHT ONLY

“Loss” will be performed at 8pm on Wednesday at Chulalongkorn University, in the auditorium on the ninth floor of the Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Building on Henri Dunant Road.

n Admission is free. Reservations |are recommended. E-mail [email protected] or see www.Cooperation-Ambafrance-th.org and Facebook.com/lafete.festival.