Thailand takes its performing arts “soft power” to Singapore

Those who follow Pichet Klunchun Dance Company, of which Gade has been a member for more than a decade, will know that they’ve been representing Thailand and her contemporary performing arts at festivals around the world with little or no support from our culture ministry. So it comes as no surprise that dance and theatre are not among the 11 disciplines on which the new government’s “soft power” agenda is focusing. That’s another issue so let’s pause here, sigh and save it for another article.

From 2006 to last year, dance fans in this region usually marked two weekends in their calendar for the Esplanade—Theatres on the Bay’s annual “da:ns festival.” It’s now become “da:ns focus” – one weekend, one topic at a time and spread throughout the year. This weekend, it’s “CAN”, or Connect Asia Now in full, and features three works including Gade’s ritual-inspired performance that combines dance, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) titled “Mali Bucha: Dance Offering.”

In an interview with The Nation, Gade talks about the development of this work, "The original title is 'Dance Offering' which is the literal translation of Ram kae bon. It was conceived in 2021 in the midst of the pandemic. Theatres had been shuttered for a long time. I wanted to create a work to communicate with fellow artists and audiences and so the first version was a ticketed performance presented on Facebook Live. It's a peak period for cryptocurrency and NFT and I collaborated with a visual artist who created images of offerings like chicken and zebra statuettes we often find at shrines. Audiences could buy them: I priced each at 9 baht but one audience member paid 10,000 baht.”

“It’s partly the interactive nature of this work that got it off to a good start: it's different from many other online performances in which the artists just perform in front of the camera."

Gade says that her belief in the supernatural comes from not only her classical Thai dance training but also from the fact that her paternal grandmother ran a likay company for which she herself performed Ram kae bon at many shrines while growing up.

"I was also going to the temple during the pandemic, praying that I would be able to work again soon. After performing Ram kae bon for many people's prayers, apparently with this work I’m now doing it for myself."

The second version was also presented live online as part of "14", a collection of contemporary dance works from Indonesia, Italy, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand commissioned by Esplanade—Theatres on the Bay for their da:ns festival 2021.

"I then kept on developing it with the hope of presenting it in a theatre after the pandemic. Thanks to an online international residency programme by Singapore’s Dance Nucleus, I've received plenty of good advice from fellow artists and mentors. In early 2022, I presented a hybrid version of this at the Esplanade. We created a digital shrine and, in addition to those physically present at ‘The Durian’, audiences from around the world were there with their avatars. My colleagues [Pichet Klunchun Dance Company members] who were in Thailand at the time also joined me on this virtual stage."

The work-in-progress was then invited to festivals in Germany and Indonesia. “I adjust the work in accordance with the space. For example, in Germany it’s outdoors and so I asked the audience to use their mobile devices to make the offerings via AR technology,” Gade explains.

“For this newest version titled ‘Mali Bucha: Dance Offering,’ thanks to the assistance of professors from four universities, we’ve created a specific app for audience members to access the digital shrine, instead of relying on the Spatial app like before. In other words, they have to keep their mobile devices on throughout the performance. For those who prefer to keep their phones off, they can simply watch the live performance and ring the bell—the same way we do at the temple—to send their messages to the higher being.”

The production team is an international one. Her dramaturg is Tang Fu Kuen who two decades ago brought Jerome Bel and Pichet Klunchun together for the seminal work “Pichet Klunchun and Myself” and is now the managing and artistic director of Norway’s BIT Teatergarasjen. UK-born and Singapore-based multidisciplinary artist Zai Tang designs the sound and Japanese artist Asako Miura the lighting. The choreographer and the designers also spent time developing the work during their residency at Kinosaki International Arts Centre.

“I specifically picked those who have worked with our company and can truly collaborate with me—those who can both support and lead my vision with respect.”

Gade says that she’s received much support from her company members even though she’s not working with them on this project.

“From the beginning, Pichet doesn’t develop us to become merely dancers but individual artists who always have artistic input into the company’s works. As a teacher and 6he company’s leader, he asks that we not believe whatever he says until we prove it ourselves. That’s also the reason why I chose to work with this company right after graduation and why I’m still here after 13 years. The other company members have also inspired me to create this work.”

Gade adds, “You may notice I’ve slightly changed the title of the work and that’s because I’ve been working on this for quite a while and in different modes and for me, it’s now a finished work.”

CAN’s other two works are TAO Dance Theatre’s, China’s leading contemporary dance company and winner of the Biennale Danza’s Silver Lion award, double bill of “13” and 14” and Indonesian veteran performance and visual artist Melati Suryodamo’s new work “Lapse”.

For more details, www.facebook.com/esplanadedans/ and www.esplanade.com

Photo credit:

‘Mali Bucha: Dance Offering’, photo by Bernie Ng;

‘13’ & ‘14’ photo by Fan Xi;

‘Lapse’ photo courtesy of Esplanade—Theatres on the Bay.